8. Question No. 8—TransportHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of TransportQuestion No. 8—Transport8. Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National) to the Minister of Transport: How much has the Government spent investigating options for the City Centre to Māngere light rail project and does he believe this represents good value for money?Hon MICHAEL WOOD (Minister of Transport): The cost of the work to date including all of that done on the previous parallel process is approximately $35 million. This is not an unusual spend for a project of this size and compares for example to $60.6 million spent investigating options for the Pūhoi to Wellsford highway and $49.6 million spent investigating options for the western ring route. This will be one of the largest infrastructure projects embarked on in New Zealand and we need to be absolutely certain that the plan we move forward with is the right one. Investing—[Interruption] SPEAKER: Order! Order! Can I ask the current member for Upper Hutt and the other member who lives locally just to stop their local battles and let us hear from the Minister. Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Investing to solve Auckland's longstanding transport problems and getting to good solutions to rising congestion the emissions challenges and making sure that people and freight move freely around our largest city is one that this Government believes is worth it. We won't kick the can down the road like the last lot did.Hon Michael Woodhouse: When he told Cabinet that the $1.8 billion set aside so far was just seed funding so additional funding will be required" did he signal to Cabinet how much extra funding he thought would be required and if so what is his figure? Hon MICHAEL WOOD: As I have publicly indicated one of the jobs of the establishment unit will be to develop the scope of the project to come back to Cabinet within six months on options to take the project forward including indicative costings. Hon Michael Woodhouse: Did Treasury advise him that the proposed establishment unit will "dilute accountability and could result in delays due to"—SPEAKER: Order! Order! I'm sorry for interrupting the member. That practice from the member in the gallery is what I regard as dangerous. Babies will not have their feet over the edge. Hon Michael Woodhouse: Did Treasury advise that the proposed establishment unit would "dilute accountability and could result in delays due to lack of clarity around decision-making" and are those concerns similar to the same concerns Treasury had about the twin-track process? Hon MICHAEL WOOD: In answer to the first part of the question the member did read the media report this morning which identified those views from Treasury. As is outlined in the Cabinet paper which we proactively released on the day of the announcement last week I don't agree with that assessment and I believe it's extremely important that as we take this city-shaping project forward we have all of the key players in Auckland around the table to develop consensus and to develop the best option to solve Auckland's transport problems. Hon Michael Woodhouse: Will he invite the Auditor-General to critique the work of the establishment unit in light of the Auditor-General's intention to keep a watching brief on a process he previously described as having the potential to put New Zealand's reputation at risk?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: The process that the Auditor-General was describing at that time is a process that was ended by Cabinet in July of last year. I do note as the member has just said that the Auditor-General does intend to keep a watching brief on this project which is entirely appropriate given its scale both financially and in terms of meeting Auckland's infrastructure needs and I intend to be open and transparent and constructive in my dealings with the Auditor-General as he does that work. Hon Michael Woodhouse: Can Aucklanders expect to receive a refund of the nearly half a billion dollars received through the regional fuel tax which the Prime Minister described as "crowdfunding for light rail"?Hon MICHAEL WOOD: Well I'm pleased that the member has asked that question because it's very important to put on record in contrast to the comments the member has been making publicly that not a single dollar of the regional fuel tax goes towards the Auckland light rail project. It is in fact funding important projects around Auckland such as the soon to open bus-train interchange at Puhinui and the Auckland Manukau Eastern Transport Initiative Botany Eastern Busway which will be opening in the middle of the year giving Aucklanders in Pakuranga and Botany access to high-quality public transport. I'll look forward to inviting along the local National Party constituency members."