TUNNEL FINANCES HELPED BY GRANT

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31976, 1 May 1969, Page 1

TUNNEL FINANCES HELPED BY GRANT

Were it not for the grant of $200,000 made by the National Roads Board, the Christchurch-Lyttelton Road Tunnel Authority would have run at a loss of $150,000 in the year ended March 31, the chairman (Mr R. A. Witbrock) said at a meeting of the authority yesterday.

Mr Witbrock confirmed that this was the case when asked about it by Mr L. G. Amos, but he said that if the grant had not been made by the Roads Board, the authority would not have made the toll reductions it had.

In his report, the authority’s general manager (Mr L. H. Wilson) said that the 1968-69 budget had provided for a surplus of $14,700, but receipts had been $37,039 higher than in the 1967-68 year—lo.l per cent up—so the actual surplus was $51,739. However, he said, it should be realised that this surplus took into account the grant of $200,000 made by the National Roads Board, interest on loans, and loan repayment, but did not include any provision for larger loan repayments in future.

“Then we would have been $150,000 down if it had not been for the Roads Board subsidy?” Mr Amos asked.

Mr Witbrock said that although the authority tied a surplus this year it was the opinion of the finance committee that this amount should be set aside foi the day when the authority had to make bigger loan repayments.

The loan repayments Increased from now on, with the biggest annual repayment being nearly $1 million in 1980, Mr Witbrock said. The committee would like to set aside funds for these repayments rather than raise fresh loans, he said. TOLL REVENUE UP

Mr Wilson reported that during March toll revenue increased by $l4l a day, or 14 per cent, to $35,373. This compared with an increase of 8.1 per cent in February, and a decrease of 4.2 per cent in January. Tolls for 1968-69 were $402,164, compared with $365,125 for 1967-68. During March traffic increased by 1533 vehicles, an average of 49 a day, Mr Wilson said. This was an increase of 1.4 per cent in traffic compared with the same month last year, and with decreases of 4 per cent and 8.7 per cent in February and January this year respectively. Car traffic had again shown

a decrease, this time of 2.3 per cent, but this was a smaller decrease than in January and February. Commercial traffic had again shown a substantial increase, and the over-all increase for the year for trucks bad been 15.1 per cent, ahd for extra axles beyond fouraxle trucks it had been 78.6 per cent TRUCK-TRAILERS This showed that trucktrailer combinations had come into greater use, Mr Wilson said. The over-all increase in traffic for the year had been 1.7 per cent, the biggest drop being in the number of motorcycles, which were down 19.2 per cent, and the biggest in-

crease being in trucks with extra axles.

The toll receipts for March were up by 9.4 per cent compared with March last year, and reached $27,952.80. This was an average increase of $7B a day. The receipts for the year were up $12,235 on the 196768 year, an increase of 4.1 per cent Total goods tolls for March were up by $1943, or 35.5 per cent. Total tonnage for the year ended in March was 600,913, compared with 435,549 for the 1967-68 year. Mr Witbrock said that traffic in April had not varied much compared with traffic in April last year, and it appeared revenue would be much the same.