Mr Muldoon criticises Karamea road plan

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33193, 5 April 1973, Page 14

Mr Muldoon criticises Karamea road plan

I he proposal to begin construction this year on a road from karamea to Collingwood along the line of the Heaphy Track was attacked in Christchurch last evening by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Mr Muldoon).

Addressing the Horn by Rotary Club, Mr Mui doon described the pro ject as unsound develop ment. which had beer proceeded with princi pally for political, as op posed to economh reasons. Mr Muldoon said that Mi P B. Allen, the former Min ister of Works, had told hirr that although the beginning of the road was on the 10 year programme, he had nac no intention of pushin; ahead, as he was well aware of the conflict between the construction of the road anc the destruction of the Heapns Track. “On the change of Government. however, a new situa tion has emerged," he said. “WORK THIS YEAR” The Ministrv of Works at Karamea had been instructed to speed up the survey, and

1- it was intended to construct i the first two miles this year. Mr Muldoon said this was ** a move by the new Govern- >• ment to indicate its interest n in the West Coast, and to make more jobs available there in pursuance of its elec- , tion policy. IC The Minister of Finance (Mr Rowling), in whose elec-, torate this was. did not pre-1 Ir tend that the road would he i- economically viable, and :n--m deed if the experience of the ig Haast Road was anything to )- judge by, it would be a long d time before tourist amenities ig were available so that tour •e parties could use the road. ie said Mr Muldoon. d “The Haast Road has, howy ever, been a successful link, but I doubt very much whe- ’■ ther this new road would ever justify the money that would be spent on it,” he said. it Mr Muldoon said it was d also significant that it was d proposed to finance the road

out of “vote roads,” which was a special item on the Government estimates for | roading works which the National Roads Board was not. prepared to carry out. “I can assure you that if I had been Minister of Finance, there would have been no * money put into ‘vote roads’ | for this project,” he said. I “The position is, of course. | different when the Minister: of Finance happens to be the; member for the electorate concerned.” The only economic justifi- ■ cation for the road was to' produce another tourist I route, but it was clear that | the present routes across the north of the South Island were not yet fully used by tour parties. Even the Lewis Pass road link was not extensively used, and the proposed new road was many miles further north than it. LOCAL WISHES Mr Muldoon said there was: no doubt that many local | people wished to see the road' built, firstly because the construction would bring business. and secondly any additional tourist traffic on the road would add to the pros- ■ perity of the district. “I have no doubt, however, that the large numbers of people who at present walk the 44-mile Heaphy Track also bring business to the area, and it is perfectly clear That few of them wish to walk along the edge of a main road,” he said. Putting a road through would effectively destroy the itrack, which was second only to the Milford Track as a i tourist amenity of its type. Apart from the destruction of the bush, there was good reason to believe that the kiwi population, in particu- I lar, would be decimated. Mr Muldoon said both he and the Opposition spokes- ! man on environmental mat-! ters, Mr V. S. Young, had asked questions in Parlia-; ment of the Minister of I Works (Mr Watt) and Min- 1 ister for the Environment (Mr Walding). Some progress had been made, he said. The Minister • of Works had admitted that work on the road had been speeded up, and undertook to obtain an environmental impact report before construe-. tion proceeded. “In my view, the Heaphy | Track project is a classical example of the conflict between development and the i protection of the environ- i ment, and from all that I I have heard of the matter,. I [ am sure that this is one case i where development should not proceed,” said Mr Muldoon.