Duynhoven Harry: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Duynhoven Harry: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations  and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:631;Page:3062] 
Hon HARRY DUYNHOVEN (Minister for Transport Safety) 
: 
 I thank Mr Williamson for his entertainment for the last little while but I say to members that we should get some facts in the way of a wonderfully entertaining story. Firstly in August 2005 there was the Transit 10-year forecast revision. This was a relatively new process that had not previously occurred in the National Government’s time. For many years when National was in Government we actually found out each year what projects were on. So we had the amazing spectacle of roads being begun but not the connecting roads to make them work which were added in the following year. 
In August 2005 the 10-year forecast showed that there were problems. Those problems revolved around two things. The first was the rapidly increasing cost of roading construction due to a number of factors but most instructively the cost increases in oil etc. The second was a reduction in the expected revenue increase which resulted in 2005 in a 10-year programme being put out and then in February 2006 a revised programme being put out. That programme showed that there were problems and this is where the member has an element of truth—and every good story has to have an element of truth. What was quite clear was that the reduction—not actually a reduction but a reduced increase—meant that there was about a $35 million shortfall to begin with. The increase was not as major as we had expected in roading revenues and at the same time a very substantial increase in the costs of construction resulted in the fact that many projects could not begin. No one is more aware of this than myself having been battered about by the New Plymouth District Council and others over the Bell Block bypass. What we had was a number of projects around the country that could not be begun because of existing projects. Unlike the previous Government we want to continue them in their entirety and actually get them completed. So those existing projects were not only proceeding very well but because we had a very good summer construction period which was longer than usual a lot more money than expected was being spent on constructing those major projects particularly in Auckland but in other parts of the country ahead of time. It was important to do that to try to make some gains. 
So I say to the previous speaker a former transport Minister who incidentally is the second-longest-serving transport Minister during my lifetime that if there is a problem with roading infrastructure perhaps he should look in the mirror and take some of the blame for those problems himself. Certainly successive Governments until Labour came to power in 1999 did not do a lot of roading construction work and certainly we had a problem with infrastructure not being kept up with not just in roading but in all areas of the economy. 
Labour has moved rapidly to fix that and in fact some of the problems are due to the fact that we stretched the construction industry. The roading construction industry regularly brought to us problems over training problems over the licences for operators of machines. We moved to address that. The Hon Mark Gosche when he was Minister was I think the first to move to address some of those issues and the Hon Pete Hodgson and I moved to address the remainder in terms of drivers’ licences training schemes for those driving road-making machinery etc. Those were issues that we addressed to try to ease the constraints that the road construction industry had. So it is a bit rich for National who did virtually nothing for years and years when it was in Government to then come back and say when we are building more roads than has been done in generations that there is a huge problem and everything is disastrous. It is not. 
Further I say to the Hon Maurice Williamson that both Dr Cullen and Mr Parker who was by that time the Minister—in February 2005—said that yes there was a shortfall and that that matter would be addressed. I take them at their word on that. I have every confidence that it will be and I am sure that members of Parliament will see that those projects that people expect to be constructed in the time frames will get back on schedule or very much approaching it. Just to take my own favourite the Bell Block bypass I say to members that it was originally scheduled in the very first 10-year plan to be built in the years 2011 to 2013. That project has begun. Unfortunately it was one of the ones that began early and then had to be stopped because soon after it had begun a major archaeological site was found. We will see I hope progress on that in the very near future. 
Report noted.