Independent views By Brendan Horan

Route K is costing local ratepayers $10,000 per day in interest.

It was built, at the time, by our council which was frustrated with the slow progress of the State Agency (now NZTA), responsible for building roads. Desperate to do something to alleviate the stress on our local transport network, Route K was built. There is no doubt that the road is a critical transport link, and is needed to take the heavy loads to the port – and to remove the big transporters from the local residential network.

Equally, there is little doubt the road was planned to be adopted as a critical part of the State Highway network – it was built to those standards – not as a residential road. But it has always been when, not if, the road would be adopted into the state network, and the burden of cost be removed from the local ratepayers.

Currently, a Transport Amendment Bill is before the house. Within that bill are provisions pertinent to Route K. When Government amends a law, the changes become enforceable only when the Government makes an order, (some are waiting for this order decades later). Surely, if a law change is agreed, it should be implemented immediately.

Because there is no specified date in this bill, I moved an amendment that the Route K Bill amendments be implemented before December 31 this year, thus saving local ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Local MP Simon Bridges voted against my amendment. To delay the transfer to the following (election) year can only be considered an election scam. This, his latest ploy, is on top of his lack of support for Tauranga residents paying 15 per cent more than the national average in power prices. I've been asking the questions in parliament, but if you too feel strongly about these issues then contact me and let your voice be heard.

Facebook.com/Brendan.horan.336 or twitter.com/brendanhoran or phone Brendan on 07 574 0253.