Peters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumePeters Winston: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 02 June 2016. Volume:714;Page:11633. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]3.Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) to the Minister of Transport: Is he satisfied that the New Zealand Transport Agency funding in Northland is adequate to cover the cost for the Brynderwyn Hills road improvements?Hon CRAIG FOSS (Associate Minister of Transport) on behalf of theMinister of Transport: Yes. I am satisfied that the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has sufficient funding to complete the safety upgrade of the Brynderwyn Hills road improvements and they are well on track for completion in the summer of 2017. The project was originally funded at $16.9 million but due to geotechnical issues the cost now is $18.9 million.But I am sure the member will welcome this additional investment by the National-led Government in Northland.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is it not a fact that month on month the cost of this project has blown out and what has he or the NZTA done about it?Hon CRAIG FOSS: No it is not a fact but I am sure the good people of Northland will be interested that the current member is not wanting or welcoming an additional spend in his electorate.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The Minister has not stuck to the question that I asked him. He has turned it into a personal attack and it is a very unfortunate approach he has taken.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The last part of the answer by the Minister was certainly not helpful to the order of the House. The first part did adequately address the question. The member can continue with supplementary questions if he wishes.Rt Hon Winston Peters: If he has just admitted that the costs have blown out by $2 million already by how much each month has it been blowing out and why does he think that $18 million is the total cost now?Hon CRAIG FOSS: We are committed to delivering this project on time. Yes there is an additional spend required to build it to the right standard. Geotechnical issues that were not apparent when the design was first planned have become apparent. There is no month-on-month additional spend. New information has created an additional spend required for additional investment into Northland.Rt Hon Winston Peters: If the NZTA is working in its words to “create transport solutions for all New Zealanders” then why can it not keep contracts within the expenditure that was originally announced such as in theBrynderwyn Hills where every month it has blown out?Hon CRAIG FOSS: I take it from that that the member would prefer the road to be built of substandard material that is not durable or lasting for many many years. Geotechnical issues have required an additional spend in the project. I would have thought that a good local member would welcome that.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Is it not a fact that every million dollars overspent on this project and outside of the contract is a million dollars that cannot be spent elsewhere on desperately needed roads and two-lane bridges in Northland?Hon CRAIG FOSS: I am sure again that that member may portray to the good people of Northland that he would prefer that a substandard road was built to allow spending somewhere else.Rt Hon Winston Peters: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. With the greatest respect I do not think that—Mr SPEAKER: No no. [Interruption] Order! With the greatest respect I am going to invite the member to repeat the question.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Thank you very much; that will be most helpful. Is it not a fact that every million dollars overspent on this project is a million dollars that cannot be spent elsewhere on desperately needed roads and two-lane bridge projects in Northland?Hon CRAIG FOSS: Of course this will not stop other investment. Actually the member may be interested to know that there is around $2 billion of funding for planning of roading investment into Northland.