Penlink has been given the green light by the Government, who will fund the major share of the project and deliver it to Rodney as a toll-free road in a funding partnership with Rodney District Council.
The announcement was made today by Transport Minister Annette King. Ms King says she was impressed by the business case put up by the Rodney District Council, and her recommendation passed Cabinet yesterday that one cent of the ten cent regional fuel tax, which will be phased in, be allocated to the $183 million Penlink project. This is expected to meet 80 percent of the project costs.
The balance will be funded by developers’ contributions and by the council transferring to the government the land it purchased previously for the project. These courses of funding have previously been identified by Rodney District Council in their business case.
Rodney’s Mayor Penny Webster says she is delighted by the Minister’s announcement.
“This is extraordinarily good news for Rodney and far better than we might of expected. To have the Government come to us and say—you need the road, we’ll pay for it, take most of the risk, and you can have it without a need to toll is fantastic for our region!”
“Earlier announcements that the Government’s portion of the regional fuel tax could be tagged for projects such as Penlink gave us hope, but we certainly never expected anything like this,” says Mrs Webster.
The long-anticipated project will provide a second access route from the Northern Motorway to the Whangaparaoa Peninsula and alleviate the peninsula’s growing traffic congestion. Also in the planning by Council are public transport initiatives such as a proposed park and ride facility.
Penlink has received huge support in Rodney from various surveys and public consultations conducted by the Council. One survey put support for the project as high as 87% even as a toll road.
Ms King gauged this local support during a visit to the proposed route early in 2007, and Council lobbying Wellington had gained considerable momentum since then, says Mrs Webster.
“The Minister has consistently stated that the regional fuel tax needs to provide benefits across the whole of the Auckland region – including Rodney – and clearly Ms King sees Penlink doing exactly that.”
The seven kilometre road, which includes a bridge over the Weiti River and a motorway interchange at Redvale, is expected to provide significant traffic relief for both Whangaparaoa Road and the Hibiscus Coast Highway, and will relieve pressure to enable residential and business growth in Silverdale and Whangaparaoa. Penlink will also improve access from the South to regional assets such as Shakespear regional reserve at the end of the Peninsular. It will be second only to the Alpurt B2 motorway extension as the single largest roading project in Rodney history.
Mrs Webster says it was too early to be drawn on when construction would begin, but hopes it will be in 2009 with completion by 2012.