TUNNEL PROGRESS

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32362, 30 July 1970, Page 18

TUNNEL PROGRESS

The ChristchurchLyttelton Road Tunnel Authority had made great progress in the six years since the tunnel opened, but it still had large commitments for interest and loan repayments, the chairman (Mr R. A. Witbrock) said at the annual meeting yesterday.

Mr Witbrock said the traffic last year had shown an increase of 5.8 per cent. The future was hard to forecast, he said. There was no guarantee that a larger percentage of cargo would be moved to road transport. This was the case with phosphate, where any change would require a change in handling methods at Lyttelton and the fertiliser works. The increased traffic and goods tonnage resulted in a rise in the toll revenue of $31,994, or 8 per cent. Vehicle tolls increased by $22,718 and goods tolls by $9274.

Three-quarters of the grant of $200,000 a year from the National Roads Board made up the total value of toll reductions for 1969-70, Mr Witbrock said. It could not be estimated what traffic there would have been if tolls had not been reduced, but it could be claimed with safety that only a very small percentage of traffic did, or needed to, use the Evans Pass route because of toll costs.

Although the authority was

not able to reduce tolls any more, it was not likely to increase them, Mr Witbrock said. In terms of money value the cost of tolls was reducing because of inflation. All other costs had been rising continuously in recent years, but the authority, because of increased traffic, had been able to hold and even reduce tolls.

When he referred to loan

repayments Mr Witbrock said it would be quite a few years before any relief could be expected from the commitment for interest, which this year was 43.12 per cent of all commitments of the authority. He drew attention to the repayments required in the 1974 to 1976 period $278,500, $236,800 and s32o,9oo—and to the 1980 commitment of $967,860.