‘We are doing it’: PM confident of Ashburton’s second bridge

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

Christopher Luxon stood in the Ashburton Event Centre in May last year and pledged that if elected, National would start constructing a new bridge for Ashburton in its first term.

One year later, during his first visit to Ashburton as Prime Minister, he remained confident of fulfilling that promise.

“Absolutely.

“We are in discussions with the [council] about the funding of that, which is being worked through right now.

“I can tell you we are very comfortable and confident we are going to get going on that shortly.

“We are doing it, it’s happening, and it’s going to get going this term for sure.”

The second bridge is a resilience project, providing a secondary crossing of the river with the existing bridge having closed twice in recent years due to flooding, cutting off the South Island.

It will also alleviate the congestion issues on State Highway 1.

The project is high on Minister of Transport Simeon Brown’s priority list, Luxon said

Brown unveiled the final Government Policy Statement on Land Transport at the end of June, which will be used by the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi in developing its National Land Transport Programme (NLTP), which is due out later this year.

Ashburton’s second bridge was flagged in the Policy Statement and now all eyes are on the release of the NLTP in September, which will confirm what projects will be funded over the next three years.

It will be an anxious wait for the Ashburton District Council, which has only budgeted a $7.5m contribution towards a project that is now estimated to cost $130m.

Chief executive Hamish Riach has confirmed the council is preparing an application to the Government’s $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund, which aims to boost infrastructure resilience and its ability to cope with population growth.

The second bridge “fits very well with the fund’s criteria” in the council’s view, he said.

Luxon’s visit to Ashburton began at Ashburton College, where principal Simon Coleman gave a tour of the ageing technology block that contrasted with the new built-for-purpose Rangitata block.

The second stage of the school's rebuild was added to the Ministry of Education value-for-money review list, along with 351 other building projects at 305 schools around the country.

Luxon then attended the RuralCo instore day event, which was an opportunity to see what was happening in the primary industry sector.

“Which of course is our most important sector and so critical for us to be able to continue to grow our country as we go forward," Luxon said.