Let's Get Wellington Moving called 'a bit of a joke' after external consultants called in for review
Wednesday, 23 September 2020
Wellington’s $6.4 billion transport programme has been labelled “a bit of a joke” after it was revealed the 20-year project will be reviewed by external consultants.
Porirua mayor Anita Baker said the project had become guilty of too much talk and not enough action.
“I wonder if there i any point in doing a review. They just need to get on with it. The bottom line is we need to get to the airport and to the hospital. It is a bit of a joke,” she said.
Stuff reported on Friday the Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) programme would be reviewed to assess if it was achievable and could deliver on its objectives.
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The LGWM programme aims to ease traffic congestion between Wellington Airport and Ngauranga Gorge, making travel through the city easier for people from across the region.
A Let’s Get Wellington Moving spokesperson said the programme “will continue with its business-as-usual activities” while the review is under way.
Baker questioned how much would be spent on the review and when progress would actually be made.
“At the moment, nothing is happening – apart from congestion. We need less talking, more action.”
Upper Hutt mayor Wayne Guppy agreed the project was taking too long and said the decision to commission a review was “actually unbelievable”.
“The region wants action, action, action. It concerns me that we have delay after delay. Our city has been gridlocked close to 10 years and we have done nothing about it.”
Guppy had put the topic on the next Wellington Region Mayoral Forum agenda on October 9, with mayors likely to request an urgent progress report from LGWM.
“There was an assumption that things were progressing but that assumption obviously is not correct.”
Congestion through Wellington was only getting worse, he said.
“Once you get to The Terrace, you might as well get out and walk.”
LGWM is a joint venture between Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Regional council chair Daran Ponter said he expected the review to “throw up a number of issues”, including staffing gaps and a cumbersome decision-making process.
“There is a desire on my part for a more streamlined process with fewer layers, to cut through the business of it a bit more quickly and efficiently.”
There had been delays in recruiting staff to the project because of Covid-19, he said.
Wellington-based National list MP Nicola Willis said the situation was “a mess”.
“There has been no progress, just more discussion and debate. Key projects have stalled and despite hundreds of thousands of dollars spent, there is nothing to show for it.”
She described the Government’s approach as “half-baked”, with local councils to fund 40 per cent of the overall cost.
National’s transport spokesperson Chris Bishop said the project had been a failure, with nothing yet delivered and funding streams still unclear.
However, Transport Minister Phil Twyfordpointed out LGWM was formed in late 2015, when National was in power.
“It is astounding the National Party is attacking a process they started and a transport plan they committed to seeing out just last month.”
Regular health checks were to be expected in a 20-year, multibillion-dollar programme, he said.
More than $11 million was spent on the programme in the first half of this year but it was recently revealed those costs were now up to $4m a month.
One of the programme’s projects has been rolled out, with 30kmh speed limits introduced in central Wellington, excluding main arterial routes, in July.