Canterbury's mayors call for extra $1b for region's transport - but can't say what it will be spent on

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From reporter Lee Kenny:

Canterbury’s mayors have called for an additional $1 billion to improve transport in the region, but no-one can say exactly what the extra cash would be spent on.

The funding is one of three “immediate priorities” in the Plan for Canterbury 2023-2025, which says ensuring the transport system is “fit for purpose requires significant investment”.

The document has been drawn-up by Canterbury Mayoral Forum, which is made up of the mayors of Canterbury’s 10 territorial authorities and Peter Scott, chairperson of Environment Canterbury (ECan).

It doesn’t state exactly how the extra billion would be spent, but one transport expert said although the extra detail “would be useful”, it was still a good message to send to Wellington.

A report published on Wednesday said the additional $1b for the region’s “vast transport network” is required over the next 10 years as “current funding sources do not meet present or future [...] resilience requirements”.

When asked what specific projects the $1b might fund, Hurunui District mayor Marie Black said: “At this point it’s probably not useful to think about specific details, but actually the direction that we are looking is to create a better link and help people mind-shift into that integration.”

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger was not available for comment, while Ecan was also unable to respond to questions about what the cash would be used for.

The Mayoral Forum report said transport strongly influences economic development, “supporting supply chains that are critical for getting our exports to market and imports back to us”.

“Current funding sources from local authorities and the National Land Transport Fund will not meet current needs, particularly when faced with resilience issues.”

Although no specific concerns or solutions are stated, “there are options to be investigated”, the report said.

Christchurch transportation engineer Glen Koorey said it was good news that transport was being prioritised by the region’s mayors but greater detail “would be useful”.

Ministers often expect people to “present a case”, when they are asking for extra funding.

“Having said that, it’s probably a useful message to be able to say to Wellington, we feel we're a bit underserved.

“Canterbury has often felt underserved in terms of funding, Wellington often seems to do better for a region the same size, if not smaller,” he said.

“I can understand (the Canterbury Mayors) asking for a bigger piece of the pie.”

The Plan for Canterbury 2023-2025 also calls for improved flood prevention and better policies to attract skilled workers to region, as Canterbury’s gross domestic product (GDP) per person “lags (behind) the national average”.

Canterbury is New Zealand’s largest region by land area, with 78,000km of rivers and streams, which present “substantial risk of major flooding events”, the report said.

The mayors are calling on the Government for “permanent co-investment in flood protection”, to shift the focus from disaster relief and recovery to mitigation of flood risks, reducing the long-term costs.

The Rangitata River burst its banks in December 2019 causing widespread flooding, while extreme rain in May 2021 led to a regional state of emergency and hundreds of evacuations.

These recent events demonstrated how vulnerable parts of the region are to flooding, said Gary Kircher, mayor for Waitaki District, which also spans Otago.

“Flooding has impacted us probably more than other natural disasters,” he said.

“Just last July and August there were multiple flood events around Omarama and Otematata, and we have those challenges across the region.”

The mayors will travel to Wellington next month to outline their aims to ministers.

“Having one voice is going to be more effective and benefit all of us,” Kircher said.