6. Roading Auckland—East-West LinkHon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of TransportRoading Auckland—East-West Link6. Hon JUDITH COLLINS (National—Papakura) to the Minister of Transport: Is he satisfied that cancelling the East-West Link Road of National Significance will be beneficial to transport in Auckland?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Transport): The East-West Link has not been cancelled and it is not a road of national significance. That is simply a political label coined by the National Party. This Government will find a higher-value lower-cost option for the East-West Link.Hon Judith Collins: How does he respond to the chief executive of the Auckland chamber of commerce who has said it is unfortunate that Ms Ardern's Government did not consult with the Auckland business community before announcing a scaling back of the East-West Link project?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: In fact we consulted extensively with the Auckland business community including Mr Barnett and I have to say that the Auckland business community along with the likes of Ken Shirley of the Road Transport Forum actually agree that we need to find a more cost-effective option than the $327 million per kilometre option that that side of the House chose without even a benefit-cost ratio.Hon Judith Collins: Is he aware that there are over 6000 heavily laden lorries and tankers passing through Neilson Street and Church Street Onehunga every day and that any delay in progressing the East-West Link will do nothing to alleviate major congestion and loss of productivity that leads to increased costs being passed on to New Zealand families?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: The Government agrees that it's urgent to find a cost-effective and higher-value option for the East-West Link. We just don't believe that a gold-plated option that would have been the most expensive road project in human history would have been a good use of taxpayer funds.Raymond Huo: What is—Hon Judith Collins: How will—Mr SPEAKER: I have called another—sorry Ms Collins. I have called another member.Raymond Huo: What is the benefit-cost ratio of the East-West Link option considered by the board of inquiry?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Incredibly the past Government committed to a $2 billion East-West Link option without an up-to-date BCR benefit-cost ratio which shows a reckless disregard for the public finances.Mr SPEAKER: OK. I am going to intervene and ask members who are asking supplementaries on both sides to listen to earlier answers because otherwise what will happen is what just happened now and that is the member asked for something that—it was very clear from listening—did not exist.Hon Judith Collins: Will congestion along Neilson Street and Church Street Onehunga be improved by his Government not accepting the East-West Link board of inquiry's unanimous decision published yesterday confirming that the positive effects of the proposal outweigh the negatives?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I'm sure that the member opposite understands that the Environmental Protection Authority's board of inquiry is a resource management consenting decision that does not consider the economic merits of the project and does not consider any other option other than the one that the National Party put in front of it.Hon Judith Collins: Does he agree with the New Zealand Transport Agency's prediction that freight movements in the Onehunga-Penrose area will double by 2035 and that the East-West Link is a necessary road for the 68000 people employed in the area as well as the distribution and logistics businesses that contribute a whopping $4.6 billion a year to the Auckland economy?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Yes which is why we're going to invest urgently in a higher-value lower-cost option.