9. Question No. 9—TransportCHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South) to the Minister of TransportQuestion No. 9—Transport9. CHRIS BISHOP (National—Hutt South) to the Minister of Transport: Does he stand by his reported comment to the Herald in relation to the 12 roading projects presently on hold or under review If we were to do what the Business Advisory Council was saying it would mean spending a great deal of money more than $12 billion on projects that have very low economic value" and which if any of the 12 roading projects will the Government be progressing as part of its transport package in the new year?Hon PHIL TWYFORD (Minister of Transport): In relation to the first part of the member's question I stand by my statement that the National Party's unfunded and undesignated roads promised in the last election would have had low economic value. The transport agency undertook a review of a number of State highway projects that had been on their books for some time. The purpose of that review was to redesign these roading projects to give better value for money and to better reflect our balanced transport policy which they now do and work is continuing on them. As for the second part of the member's question as I indicated to the member previously he will have to wait and see what is in or out of the infrastructure package.Chris Bishop: Does he think State Highway 2 Te Puna to Ōmokoroa known as the Tauranga Northern Link is a road with economic value and worth progressing?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: It's certainly a road of value and that's why the transport agency's done a substantial piece of work reviewing evaluating and redesigning that project so that it not only delivers good transport and safety outcomes but delivers value for money because that's what this side of the House stands for.Chris Bishop: Does he think State Highway 1 Cambridge to Piarere is a road with economic value and worth progressing?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Well we do think that's a road of value unlike the former Government who never funded it never designated it; they simply announced it in a press release during the election campaign but did nothing about it—after nine years.Chris Bishop: Does he stand by his comment that New Zealand has overinvested in roads and motorways for decades and if so why is the Government purportedly planning to reinstate State highway funding and build some of the roads we've just been discussing?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I stand by the full remark that I made—the full quotation not the highly selective version that the member likes to peddle around the country. I stand by my statement that actually for a long time particularly over the last nine years there was an unbalanced transport policy that poured 40 percent of the entire transport budget into a few handpicked motorways at the expense of every other part of the transport system. That policy saw the neglect of local roads. It saw the neglect of public transport and the neglect of road maintenance.Chris Bishop: Can he confirm that two years after cutting State highway funding by $5 billion over the next decade the Government is now looking at an the injection of money to bring forward State highway roading projects that are currently delayed?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: I can confirm in the words of the Minister of Finance that the Government is looking at one of the biggest infrastructure packages this country's ever seen. It's going to allow us to bring forward a number of transport projects that would have otherwise taken much longer to build and it will reflect this Government's balanced multi-modal transport policy. It will include walking and cycling projects rail and roads.Chris Bishop: How can the public have any confidence in the Government's ability to deliver these projects when he spent two years bagging them as having low economic value and telling New Zealanders the previous Government overinvested in State highways?Hon PHIL TWYFORD: Precisely because—and the member clearly wasn't listening to the earlier answers—the ghost roads that the National Party announced in the last election campaign weren't funded they weren't designated; they were simply campaign promises. We're getting on. We're getting on and building a lot more infrastructure including roading and other transport infrastructure that that Government didn't even dream about."