Ten new roads for the country, costing an estimated $10.5 billion, have been announced today by the National Party.
Prime Minister Bill English announced the new major routes during a visit to Hawke’s Bay.
The new roading projects have been labelled the ‘next generation of Roads of National Significance’, adding to seven previous roads created in the project.
National Party Transport Spokesperson Simon Bridges said, “The time has come for the next generation of nation-building projects so today we are announcing that 10 of the country’s most important routes will form the next generation of Roads of National Significance”.
New Zealand Transport Minister Simon Bridges at a New Zealand Transport Agency event in Auckland.
The new roads would be:
· Wellsford to Whangarei
· East West Link in Auckland
· Cambridge to Tirau
· Piarere to the foot of the Kaimai Range
· Tauranga to Katikati
· Napier to Hastings
· Manawatu Gorge
· Levin to Sanson
· Christchurch Northern Motorway
· Christchurch to Ashburton
“The new roads are expected to cost around $10.5 billion, on top of the estimated $12 billion invested in the initial seven,” Mr Bridges said.
“The chosen projects are our highest volume roads and they are a sensible and logical extension of the original seven projects. Together they will help provide a strong safe highway network that links our regions effectively with our major cities.”
“Like the first tranche, they will be funded from the National Land Transport Fund and the use of Public-Private Partnerships,” Mr Bridges said.
“The initial funding will come from our record infrastructure investment of $32.5 billion announced in Budget 2017.”