Most of extra road grant for the provinces

Press, 21 August 1976, Page 20

Most of extra road grant for the provinces

Wellington reporter

Nearly all the S6M available from the Government’s S9M grant to the National Roads Board would be

spent outside the main centres, the Minister of Works and Development (Mr W. L. Young) told the board todav.

This was because work on major motorways had been continuing while work in some areas in the provinces had stopped altogether.

Of the S9M granted by the Government, S3M will be spent on increased Ministry of Works administrative charges (on the instructions of the Government), $3.85M will be spent on the State highways, 51.25 M will be spent within counties and 50.90 M within municipalities.

Both the counties and municipalities will receive an immediate increase of 4 per cent for their approved programmes —

$950,000 and $775,000, respectively. These funds can be spent at the dis-

cretion of the local authorities. The Government’s grant lifts the board’s approved budget from $111.90M to 5120.80 M, and the Government has stipulated that S3M must be applied to “urgent work of national importance.”

This will include the temporary work and a start on the permanent work necessary to bring bridges on the PictonChristchurch highway to Class I standards, which had an extra allocation of $250,000. Other major items are 51.36 M for State highway bridging, $550,000 to start priority seal extension works, the reinstatement of high priority deferred works, and assistance to several local authorities to meet logging and industrial reading needs. Among additional construction works approved by the board were the Shenandoah bridge between Nelson and the West Coast ($105,000), road wiuening at Punakaiki on the West Coast ($50,000), strengthening in North Canterbury ($50,000) and work on the Christchurch southern motorway' at Jerrold

S t r e e t-Lincoln Road ($275,000). Extra bridging work being funded includes Waitapu in Nelson ($125,000), bridge repairs on the West Coast ($150,000), the big Totara bridge on the West Coast ($50,000). $lOO,OOO for bridging on the PictonChristchurch road, Gabriels and Dons bridges in North Canterburv ($100,000), Horseshoe bridge ($70,000), Upper Waihi bridg ($50,000), and Kitchener bridge ($30,000) in South Canterbury.

Ashley County will get an extra $25,000 for logging roads, Greymouth will get $18,060 for Water Walk Road, and Christchurch will get $32,000 for work on Jerrold Street.

“The board is conscious of the problem of introducing new works having a significant carryover to the 1977-78 financial year,” said the Deputy

Director of Reading (Mr R. B. Fisher). “For this reason it has not been possible to recommend many highpriority works at present.” Mr R. L. Whyte, representing private motorists on the board, said that although the extra S9M was very welcome, the receiving of grants rather than having a secure and adequate income prevented the board from fulfilling ■ its proper function of planning. *‘l am pleased that we now do not have to waste money preserving bridges and can get on with the proper job of replacing them,” he said. “All this extra money is going into construction — every cent of it — and although it has been publicly described as ‘chicken-feed’ it should be remembered that it is money on top of what we were doing anyway,” said the Director of Roading (Mr F. A. Langbein).