11. Question No. 11—TransportSIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of TransportQuestion No. 11—Transport11. SIMEON BROWN (National—Pakuranga) to the Minister of Transport: Will he commit to continuing and delivering Let's Get Wellington Moving and Auckland light rail?Hon DAVID PARKER (Minister of Transport): Wellington deserves a comprehensive transport network that moves people across the city. As the Prime Minister has said the problem with Let's Get Wellington Moving is that it hasn't been moving fast enough. We're not dumping the programme but we are in discussions with Wellington City and regional councils as to how the programme can be progressed faster. Regarding Auckland light rail as I told the member last week work is ongoing. Final investment decisions on Auckland light rail are yet to be taken and I'm not expecting them until after the election. We will be saying more regarding our transport priorities for Auckland Wellington and the rest of the country in the coming weeks. When we do announce our priorities they will be properly costed and properly funded.Simeon Brown: Can the Minister express confidence in Let's Get Wellington Moving and if not why not?Hon DAVID PARKER: Yes but it does need to speed up.Simeon Brown: After six years in office what does the Minister mean by speed up"?Hon DAVID PARKER: I would say adding to the progress that we've made across the country. You know we've invested $16 billion in transport initiatives both on the public transport and the roading front. We've also invested heavily in rail. We've finished off projects that were started by the last Government but not properly funded. We funded billion-dollar cost overruns for the likes of the City Rail Link in Auckland. We funded shortfalls of underfunding on Transmission Gully. We've cleaned up so many messes from the prior Government. We're determined to show the public of New Zealand that if people are going to make rash promises as to their future roading programme they should show how they're going to fund them.Simon Court: Would the Minister ask users of the current State Highway 1 and Wellington residents if they'd be prepared to pay a toll to get a tunnel built through Mount Victoria quicker than Let's Get Wellington Moving could and would the Minister welcome private sector financing to fund toll roads as set out in ACT's policy to supercharge toll road delivery?Hon DAVID PARKER: In respect of whether roads are built by the private sector through public-private partnerships or funded directly by the public sector irrespective of which of those two choices is taken you still have to fund the full cost of the project and the problem with some of the announcements that we've heard this week is that they're billions of dollars out. In respect of propositions to toll I find some propositions hard to fathom given that we proposed the tolling of Penlink but the National Party says that they're going to not do that.Simeon Brown: How many metres of Auckland light rail track have been delivered so far as part of the Government's $29.2 billion light rail plan which was promised to be delivered by 2021?Hon DAVID PARKER: As I said final investment decisions have not been taken on that project and therefore no money's been spent on the laying of tracks yet.Simeon Brown: Does he stand by the Prime Minister's statement in question time just a few moments ago when he said "Work is under way on planning for a route including identifying the preferred route for Auckland light rail … including identifying the most desirable construction method" and how many more years are required to plan for this route?Hon DAVID PARKER: Yes I do and one of the examples of why that's necessary is that the geology of the area differs. Some parts you could tunnel through and you would encounter lava throws that would put up the cost of the project probably by more than the cost overruns that we've seen for the City Rail Link. We're determined to avoid those sorts of cost overruns by proper planning and investigation in the first place."