PM announces $10.5 bn extra RoNS funding

Prime Minister Bill English has announced $10.5 billion of new funding for the Roads of National Significance program (RoNS), to be invested if National is re-elected for a fourth term. That $10.5 billion would be committed over and above the $12 billion already allocated to seven other RoNS projects throughout the country. The roads will be funded from the National Land Transport Fund and the use of Public-Private partnerships. The new roading projects would focus on the regions, and the Prime Minister says they will make it easier to get products to our main export markets. “Today is the day when New Zealand gets ahead of the curve on roading and infrastructure,” he said in Hawkes Bay at the announcement. The new projects announced are as follows; Wellsford to Whangarei; the East West Link in Auckland; Cambridge to Tirau; Piarere to the foot of the Kaimai Range; Tauranga to Katikati; Napier to Hastings; Manawatu Gorge; Levin to Sanson; Christchurch Northern Motorway; and Christchurch to Ashburton. "Strong transport connections are critical for our growing regions and support New Zealand’s economic prosperity, and the Roads of National Significance are an important part of that,” said Minister for Transport Simon Bridges in a press release yesterday. Minister Bridges also said that the investment will make sure that strain on infrastructure does not become a barrier to progress. Strain on roading infrastructure is currently costing Auckland nearly $2 billion per year, according to a report from the NZIER. The announcement for regional focused infrastructure funding follows National’s announcement earlier this month of over $2 billion for road and rail projects in Auckland. Labour leader Jacinda Adern has countered the announcement with a regional transport investment policy. The first stage would create a “golden triangle” of passenger rail links between Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga and conditional upon its success, the rail links would be extended as far as Rotorua.