New Government throw $28billion at desperately underfunded Auckland infrastructure

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
17
13

Labour are throwing $28billion at public transport, road safety, cycle lanes and two new roads north and south of Auckland.

It is good news for motorists who are being crucified in a city that at times verges on gridlock.

The bad news is that without congestion charging none of this will really change anything.

The reality is the crippling underfunding of Auckland’s infrastructure will require more than $28billion to seriously get the city moving.

Thank you National.

It shows the new Government are prepared to clean up the short sighted mistakes of the previous Government.

 

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17 COMMENTS

  1. I am struggling to get enthused or excited about this government, it is more of the same, well not quite the same, but the same continued dependency on fossil fuel game.

    We have ‘great’ plans and promises, costing billions, which are not fully accounted for. We are in reality shifting a huge debt load onto the future generations, some for MORE roads and highways, ok some ‘toll roads’.

    Auckland is a failed city project, if it is not seen as such yet, it will be so in future. It is a totally UNSUSTAINABLE project, totally dependent on fossil fuel use, as most transport is by car, bus and ferries who use that energy source.

    To switch something more radical needs to happen, but where is the damned generation for extra electric trains, buses and cars???

    I see and hear NOTHING about that, it is all pie in the sky planning, to look and sound sweet, but with NO substance.

    As a city Auckland should SHRINK in size, and we should levy car commuters so much, that driving a personal and individual vehicle becomes a LUXURY. Walk, cycle, use the bus and train, ffs, or go and stuff yourselves.

    If that cannot be done, and it will NOT be done, as long as the residents of Auckland are allowed to drive, we will get nowhere. The rebellion of the petrol heads is pre programmed, they will vote Labour and Greens out in 2020.

    Even the ‘poor’ will lament, about the extra excise, and voter you out. They do not get it, because the information policy is lacking, as allowing the commercial advertising industry to continue the perpetuum mobile dream of ever growing consumption, ever growing consumerism, ever growing economic volume growth, with wasteful use of fossil fuels, so anything they send as signals sends the opposite signal of the government.

    Temptation is too great, so they will vote you out again, soon, wait and see. I do not support it, I support even more radical policy, to confront the idiots and show them a no return scenario, that is what this cowardly government is shying away from, carry on as usual, and shift the debt to future generations, some for screwed up projects achieving nothing.

    • Spot on.

      The insanity of allocating yet more precious resources to increasing the dependence on fossil fuels is beyond belief -especially since we know that the extraction of oil is globally in terminal decline in terms of quality and Energy Return On Energy Invested, and will soon be in terminal decline in terms of absolute quantity extracted per day. No one knows when terminal decline will set in but the best analysis indicated around 2020. Sorry folks, project industrial civilization was a failure.

      And to add insult to injury, this particular example of insanity of more road building comes from a government whose prime minister campaigned on a platform of ‘getting serious about climate change’. (as I said at the time, words come easily, actions do not).

      April 25, 2018
      411.92 ppm

      April 25, 2017
      409.65 ppm

      The truth is, the Adern government is just another servant of banks, corporations and opportunists, and when it comes to appropriate planning is just as incompetent as every government that has preceded it.

      Look forward to ever-worsening air quality and ever-worsening water quality around Auckland as a consequence of the dependence on fossil fuels. And look forward to ever-worsening climate conditions and more extreme weather events.

      Pity the children, who will inherit the chaos created by the idiots that have been in charge and still are.

      ‘Auckland is a failed city project, if it is not seen as such yet, it will be so in future. It is a totally UNSUSTAINABLE project,’

      Spot on.

      Sadly, the unsustainable model of Auckland is being used as a template for every other city in NZ.

      • As our economic activity has been geared for GROWTH, and more GROWTH, which again is partly due to borrowing, resulting in interest having to be paid back with the premium, there is sadly no politician in this country who dares tell the people the truth.

        The economic model we follow is one based in continued growth, without growth we would stand still, we would not have anybody take risks and build and do things, as they can only ‘invest’ by borrowing at a rate of interest, that has to be repaid, with the premium of course.

        So anything invested in must bring at least a return that covers premium repayments and interest on top, add a nice profit margin for those taking the risk to invest, and we have the status quo.

        We are under this model condemned, like a crack addict to his regular dose of crack, to carry on as usual, as the alternative would mean a collapse or a kind of recession or even depression. We know what that means to ‘economists’ who have almost all signed up to this present day capitalist model of borrowing for the future, to pay for later.

        It is like a Ponzi Scheme, as you have often pointed out, but like with any addiction, the end result will be fatal self destruction or a nasty, painful withdrawal as a start of any recovery.

        Stalling the process we are locked in, that is in Auckland, and the country as a whole, we will have values of assets drop, including housing, for which so many have borrowed billions in total sums from the banks, who earn nice fees and interest from their customers.

        When asset values drop, a panic may set in, and a bubble of sorts will burst. Some will of course go around and pick up the pieces, buy cheaper assets with what they have to their avail, and carry on from there, rebuilding the system on the same principle again.

        The collateral damage for those suffering from the process will be immense. So as Auckland and some other places are so locked into all this present economic and financial model, the government carries on as usual, borrows, levies and pays for large projects, that will blow out in costs, as usual, and future generations will be expected to pay for any short fall.

        We are shouldering the coming one to two generations with massive burdens and destroy the environment at the same time. Growth, growth, and more growth, like the addict needing ever higher doses of his drug.

        Trouble is, our resources are finite, including land, water, air, soil and potential extraction by growing crops or digging for minerals, same as only so many fish can live in the sea. The end of all will be BRUTAL.

  2. Anyone who allows 800 new vehicles per month to be dumped on Auckland’s gridlocked roads is a fuckwit. What can we expect other than more gridlock? Sorry, but this applies to new govt as well as it applied to the old one. Don’t bother building new roads – nothing will cope with 800 new vehicles per month.
    And why haven’t all you intelligent people rarked up about this already?
    How stupid can humans be??

    • 100% in vito.

      Labour are simply just another “populist” Government ‘driven by polls’.

      There should have been a switch to rail freight and passenger as is happening around the world and not building just more roads for trucks.

      Labour in their first term between 1936- 42 built the Gisborne rail and now it was closed under National (due to them dropping any rail maintenance) Labour still has not advanced the regional rail freight and passenger services as they promised in 2016 to Gisborne that they would restore the gisborne rail again “when next in Government”

      http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2535803-135/three-parties-say-fix-rail

    • +100 IN VINO – you are even more of a fuckwit if you then allow another 300+ bus drivers/luxury construction workers/chefs and their elderly parents/marriages and relationships of convenience/BFF’s into Auckland to solve the transport and housing crisis while immediately adding to the transport and housing crisis… which quite frankly has spread well out side of Auckland now and shock horror, to Wellington, Rotorua and many others…

  3. Funny , the narrative and spin peddled by the National party is that Labour have ” over promised on everything ”
    It must be true because the news media use the same crap every time they report on anything the government announces in its response to the crisis that the country finds itself in after the much heralded ” Brighter Future ” has been found to be an illusion except for the kiwi aristocracy.

    There is an 11 billion dollar hole alright that National being top economic managers and a ” safe pair of hands ” ( remember that one ! ) have left the coalition government to dig us out of and will take the next decade to do just that.
    Keys ” decade of deficits ” was true after all except there is no surplus this time to squander just tax cut debt.

  4. Not a moan – AND – disabled people (like me) CANNOT use public transport, no matter how much we support the concept. I cannot walk very far & need a walking frame to help protect myself from falling & & &. At my age (close to 80 y.o.) if I fall & fracture my pelvis/femur, there’s a high probability that I could be dead in less than 12 months.

    I’m an intelligent, retd. NZRN, & still spend considerable time daily giving others important information re maintaining their health (that they will NEVER learn from the majority of allopathic medical doctors). A medical practice is a BUSINESS. Well, healthy people are not good for business.

    • There should always be special provisions made for persons like you. If the only way for you is to travel by car or something similar, then that must be supported.

      At the same time, I observe thousands of parents driving their kids to school all the time, some may say, for safety reasons, others are just loving the comfort of driving everywhere.

      Many healthy and fit people drive, drive and block the traffic, one each per car, while they could easily get used to a bit of walking, cycling and certainly using public transport, that is where it is available, and where it can and must be improved.

      The health benefits of moving around a bit more are another positive, besides of better fuel efficiency.

  5. How much of this $28b will end up on a the multiple number of Contractors balance sheet(s) as profit? 20%? Or 30% ….

  6. It’s thanks to the dodgy old fuckers of yore that Auckland’s there in the first place. Dunedin was the largest city in Ye Olde Newe Zealande before the great wave of swindles took place. Aucklanders need to come to terms with spreading out into our primary industry hinterlands, but of course, you don’t want to. And I don’t blame you one little bit. Them there hinterlands are not for the feint hearted nor for those looking for a decent cup of coffee without the cow smells.
    In fact, the hinterlands are fucked. Heard of Balclutha ? Fucking awful place. But it’s slap dab in the middle of one of the higher foreign exchange earning regions in Nu Zillind. It’s now emblematic of how fucked the swindlers left our primary industry infrastructure in, too. A miserable, down trodden shit hole full of slow burning red necks and greedy, self serving council members flouncing about in brand new 4×4’s while rates are so high, new blood avoids the region like a Trick does a hooker with herpies.
    bill english and todd barkley country. Where the men are men and the sheep look nervous.
    ( No disrespect to actual ‘working’ people intended. )
    Look? Idiots. C’mon. Wake up. Auckland’s fucked and you know it. Auckland’s a huddle of desperadoes skating on thin ice just ahead of a catastrophic global financial explosion/implosion, the scaffolding of which is debt. What else have you got? Nothing. You’re pretty, I admit. And you do have fabulous little spots of ethnic diversity well worth nurturing, like Otara and Sandringham but the rest? Meh. Polished S-wank propped up by Chinese money. I was in Devonport one afternoon and saw a Lamborghini being chased by an Aston Martin! Must have been breeding season?
    You really want to spend $28 billion to make the Banker slaves reach their cotton pickin’ fields faster? Really? Are you sure? Have you thought this through?
    You have a dyed in the nylon neo liberal mayor and a Left listing plasti-government who wants to spend $28 BILLION DOLLARS to allow faster-faster? Really ? ?? But ? Don’t you have homeless people scraping fag ends out of the gutters below a gambling bling-bling pointy-thing to deal with first?
    I’d suggest ransacking the Big Banker Boy’s buildings down town then turn them into apartment buildings so everybody can walk to the water front for a beer.
    In my humble opinion, Auckland’s a vibrant case study in mass insanity. And not because of WHAT it is… but because WHY it is.
    Give Dunedin $28 Billion and half of Auckland would move there. That’s 2x problems solved and I’m not that flash in the brain thing neither.
    Oh! Oh! Kim Dotcom’s moved to Queenstown. What’s that say? Queenstown’s three hours to Dunedin. It takes about that long to drive from the North Shore to the AP so…

  7. Firstly congestion charging doesn’t work. It just shifts the congestion. Next you need public transport working effectively and with networks before people can give up their car. In spite of massive budgets Auckland transport is a basket case fiefdom and throwing more money at them is not going to miraculously make them competent and able to deliver a working service throughout Auckland.

    Also the reliance of the private sector is a waste of time. Just some information about PPP’s. They don’t work and are death, they cost more, they are unwieldy, the risk transfer doesn’t work because when the private sector screw up and goes bankrupt, the public still has to use the roads and public transport, so there is no risk transfer.

    Essentially we are paying more hard earned money so that companies like Fletchers and Finance companies, many already on the ropes or earning excessive profits being shipped offshore, can wallow in more public funds, import more low wage people and go as slow as possible before ultimately screwing up and then the rate/tax payers pick up the bill and contribute to more inequality and lack of working public assets.

    So you are right 28 billion will not be enough, because the private sector will be extracting a lot more than that, in more inequality transfers in this country, that the left wing press should be concentrating on, NOT flogging the public over not using a non existent or basket case transport system while ignoring the risks on what is being proposed and who it benefits the construction sector and the finance sector.

  8. Here’s some reading on what actually happens with PPP’s or as they call them in the UK PFI’s….

    “UK PFI debt now stands at over £300bn for projects with an original capital cost of £55bn”

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/30/pfi-britain-hospital-trust-debt-burden-tax

    “Conservatively estimated, the trusts appear to be paying a risk premium of about 30% of the total construction costs, just to get the hospitals built on time and to budget, a sum that considerably exceeds the evidence about past cost overruns.”

    For roads:

    This report: https://image.guim.co.uk/sys-files/Society/documents/2004/11/24/PFI.pdf

    found that PPP “contracts are considerably more expensive than the cost of conventional procurement”, resulting in higher returns for the companies running the PPP’s compared to their industry peers.

    While hard to compare because of the opaque nature of many contracts and large amounts of subcontracting out, it looked like the actual cost of capital of the PPP’s was 11% compared to Treasure borrowing of 4.5% i.e. 6.5% higher. This is supposed to represent the cost of risk transfer but in practice there was no risk transfer so it’s money for nothing.

    “In conclusion, the road projects appear to be costing more than expected as reflected in net present costs that are higher than those identified by the Highways Agency (Haynes and Roden 1999), owing to rising traffic and contract changes. It is, however, impossible to know at this point whether or not VFM (value for money) has been or is indeed likely to be achieved because the expensive element of the service contract relates to maintenance that generally will not be required for many years.”

    Overall, for both roads and hospitals they concluded there was no risk transfer and not value for money.

    “The net result of all this is that while risk transfer is the central element in justifying VFM and thus PFI, our analysis shows that risk does not appear to have been transferred to the party best able to manage it.

    Indeed, rather than transferring risk to the private sector, in the case of roads DBFO has created additional costs and risks to the public agency, and to the public sector as a whole, through tax concessions that must increase costs to the taxpayer and/or reduce service provision. In the case of hospitals, PFI has generated extra costs to hospital users, both staff and patients, and to the Treasury through the leakage of the capital charge element in the NHS budget. In both roads and hospitals these costs and risks are neither transparent nor quantifiable.

    This means that it is impossible to demonstrate whether or not VFM has been, or indeed can be, achieved in these or any other projects.

    While the Government’s case rests upon value for money, including the cost of transferring risk, our research suggests that PFI may lead to a loss of benefits in kind and a redistribution of income, from the public to the corporate sector.

    It has boosted the construction industry, many of whose PFI subsidiaries are now the most profitable parts of their enterprises, and led to a significant expansion of the facilities management sector.

    But the main beneficiaries are likely to be the financial institutions whose loans are effectively underwritten by the taxpayers, as evidenced by the renegotiation of the Royal Armouries PFI (NAO 2001a).”

    • Private Public Partnerships (PPP) y’all know PPP has to be included in any economic calcs. PPP investment style is the hall mark of upgraded infrastructure.

      The key to the successful application of PPP lies not only in how to use this investment strategy, but why and when to use it.

      Though the dynamics change considerably when the underlying asset is profitable or unprofitable this investment style entails using political access for cash to help private investors out on the next deal.

      The raised balance sheet, meanwhile, is used to move risk off books and deflect any long term acquisition costs.

      Combined with the flow of money from government to contractor, this style is highly effective against face to face public interference.

      This style also has supreme counter-punching properties built into its dynamic. With so much cash be hidden away there’s always a wad of cash ready to run political interference.

  9. Auckland is/was a basket case and will continue to get worse.. no amount of money will put the situation right. it was incorrectly situated, allowed to grow without future planning, abandoned all over seas major cities rail expansion plans, allowed the last National Govt to flood the city with cheap chinese money and the immigrants that came with it. meanwhile people living in the Remueras, St Heliers, Parnell and North shore Takapuna ites all pretend it is not happening and that the city is a lovely place to live.. They are all living in fools paradise.. You can pull up early photos of Hongkong before the population explosions happened there and it was beautiful, now it is a filthy Dirty cesspool and Auckland is destined to becoming exactly that..

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