Election 2020: National promises to double the tunnel in billion-dollar Wellington transport announcement

Tuesday, 4 August 2020

Judith Collins speaks to media after unveiling Upper North Island transport plans.

The National Party will “fast track” the construction of a second Mt Victoria tunnel if elected in September, Stuff understands.

Today, transport spokesman Chris Bishop will announce the party will build the tunnel with central government funding the entire $700 million cost of its construction.

Under National, construction would begin by the end of its first term in government in 2023, should it win the election in September.

It would mean that the tunnel would be built much earlier than on current plans, which likely won’t see business cases completed until early 2021, with significant construction unlikely to begin until the end of the 2020s.

The party is so keen on having the tunnel built, that it is understood it would pass special legislation to fast-track consenting and construction if elected.

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Chris Bishop will be announcing a multibillion-dollar package of transport investment in Petone on Wednesday morning, with the second Mt Victoria tunnel, one of its centrepieces.

Bishop will be announcing a multibillion-dollar package of transport investment in Petone on Wednesday morning, with the second Mt Victoria tunnel one of its centrepieces.

The tunnel is meant to reduce congestion in the area around the Basin Reserve and on the way to the airport.

It has been a painful political football in Wellington after it was pushed to the back of the current Government’s package of Wellington transport projects, Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM). While the sequencing of projects could change depending on business cases, building the tunnel is unlikely to be brought forward significantly should a variation of the current Government be re-elected.

Wellington-based National list MP Nicola Willis, and Chris Bishop launched a campaign to bring forward construction of an extra Mt Victoria tunnel.

The $6.4 billion package is funded jointly by central and local government, with central government taking the lion’s share, funding 60 per cent of the package, and the Wellington city and regional councils picking up the remaining 40 per cent.

National's package would come in over the top of the current LGWM plan, pushing the tunnel to the front of the queue and funding it entirely with central government money.

Bishop said in February it was “ridiculous” Wellington was still using the single, two-lane tunnel.

'Let's be very clear: we think it's ridiculous that in New Zealand's capital city in the 21st century, we are still using a two-lane tunnel built in 1931 to get to the airport,” Bishop said.

The tunnel was at the centre of what became known as the “secret letter” scandal, in which Green Party transport spokesperson and Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter wrote to Transport Minister Phil Twyford, setting out her party’s position on the tunnel.

The scandal went all the way to the Ombudsman who forced the parties to release a summary of the letter’s contents, which noted that Genter wanted work on rapid transit prioritised over the tunnel.

National’s Wellington Central candidate and list MP, Nicola Willis petitioned to have the tunnel built “without delay”.

It even featured in Andy Foster’s insurgent campaign for the Wellington Mayoralty in 2019.

Foster also backed bringing the tunnel forward.

National also wants to renegotiate other parts of the LGWM package to bring it into alignment with the party’s goals for transport.

The party has promised to lavish $31b on transport over the next decade, should the party win the election.