Summarised by Centrist
Hayden Donnell argues the country has become paralysed by megaproject thinking.
Governments talk big, spend hundreds of millions on reports, and then abandon their own plans before a single metre of track or asphalt appears.
Auckland light rail is the clearest example. Labour promised a partly tunnelled line costing up to $30 billion. After years of studies and $230 million spent, not a single track was laid. When National took office, it “promptly euthanised” the project and dumped it in a ditch marked “money for big roads”.
The cancelled scheme joined a long list of stalled or defunct ambitions, from Let’s Get Wellington Moving to Robbie’s rail to multiple harbour-crossing attempts.
Donnell says “New Zealand’s political history is littered with abandoned and stalled megaprojects.”
Mayor Wayne Brown puts it more bluntly. “Politicians use them as a namesake to make their mark. Gold-plated, over-designed megaprojects are very rarely needed.”
Donnell presents a consensus across political lines that the country should “think small”. Smaller steps, staged upgrades and modest beginnings build confidence.
Green MP Julie Anne Genter says. “It is easier to claim credit for a few big projects, but those are not usually the best use of public money.”
However, Transport Minister Chris Bishop notes that 96 percent of projects in the current pipeline cost under $50 million. Yet even he concedes his own party’s marquee road projects now carry a price tag of $56 billion.
