While Colin Hannah is thrilled at news of a four-lane expressway being built to Northland, he’s wary of potential roadblocks ahead.
The Federated Farmers Northland president says he was “ecstatic” at the Government’s recent announcement it would be accelerating work on an expressway between Auckland and Whangārei.
“This is fantastic news about Northland being connected to the rest of the country with a highway, and I’m celebrating as much as other farmers in the region.
“Our region’s growth has for too long been strangled by poor infrastructure, most recently seen with the 190-day closure of the Brynderwyn Hills, which has cost farmers and the rest of the community hugely.”
However, Hannah says he’s been around long enough to know an exciting announcement from the Government doesn’t mean the expressway is a done deal.
“I’ve been listening to politicians telling us we’re going to get a lifeline for the last eight or nine years.
“Over this time, I’ve attended at least five meetings around the building of the highway, and we’ve had the opportunity to look at possible routes and design work. “But then we had a new Labour Government come in and someone coined this new road ‘the Holiday Highway’ – and plans disappeared overnight.
“As a region we’ve paid the price of this idealism dearly.”
Hannah says that same risk of political interference exists now.
“Because of our endless rollercoaster of election cycles, we could easily see a new Government come along and scrap the expressway, even if it’s part-way through being built.
“If that happens, my fear is we could see Northland once again left with nothing more than a goat track for a road.”
In Transport Minister Simeon Brown’s announcement last month, he said delivering new three Roads of National Significance for Northland was a large and complex task that would require a significant shift in approach.
That approach would include a progressive public private partnership model, and the expressway would be treated as one project but in three stages: Warkworth to Te Hana; Te Hana to Port Marsden; Port Marsden to Whangārei.
Hannah says it makes sense to split the massive project into three bite-sized sections of work, but the only stage he’s confident about is the first.
“What we are sure of from this great announcement is the Warkworth to Te Hana section.
“This is within the current Government’s term timeframe and, because much of this has been consented and could actually start almost immediately, we can now rest assured this section will get done.”
He says the other two remaining sections are nothing more than lines on a piece of paper.
“There’s so much work to be done before they become a reality, including land acquisition, design work, and consents to be obtained.
“That’s where the risk is – that we never see those two sections built.”
Hannah says he’s been meeting with Northland Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders, and they’ve agreed on a way to safeguard the new expressway from political interference.
“What we’d like to see is this critical piece of infrastructure is constructed and managed under an authority similar to the Harbour Bridge Authority back in 1950.
“The authority could be formed under an act of Parliament and funded not out of the Government’s books but through borrowed money from a reputable superannuation fund.
“This type of structure would be the only way we Northlanders could have some certainty for the future, so we don’t become political pawns like we have in the past.”
Hannah says farmers and others in Northland are 100% on-board with the idea of the new expressway being a toll road.
“In all my meetings and conversations, I’ve not had one ‘no’ to that idea.
“Everybody is saying ‘bring it on’, and that’s because a proper highway to Northland would bring such huge savings and efficiencies to our people that any cost of a toll would be minimal in comparison.”
He says he’s not out to criticise the Government but wants to find a way of working with political leaders to come up with a plan that truly works.
“We need to talk, listen to each other, and find a way to fix Northland’s roading woes once and for all.”
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Federated Farmers news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
