Karamea-Collingwood road study-funding talks likely

Press, 1 December 1987, Page 41

Karamea-Collingwood road study-funding talks likely

The Nelson Bays United Council has proposed, at a meeting to discuss the possibility of funding a feasibility study of a road between Collingwood and Karamea. The council decided to meet representatives of the West Coast United Council and the West Coast and Nelson Bays Regional Development Councils at Murchison to discuss seeking financial assistance. The council’s principal officer, Mr Len Ardell, said he had been told that an application for funds to meet the cost of a study was likely to be favourably received by the two regional development councils. A Jinn of consultant engineers indicated the cost of a feasibility study update would be about

$40,000. Discussion on the often debated Karamea-Colling-wood road was prompted by a report from the Buller County Council engineer, Mr J. F. Spooner, estimating the cost of establishing the road to be about $29.5 million. His calculation was made by up-dating figures from a reconnaissance survey and study in 1972 by the Ministry of Works and Development. The study recommended an inland route between the Kohaihai and Big River areas to Patarau on the north-west-ern coast as best for a road over the 136 km between Karamea and Collingwood. The cost was estimated at $8.2 million in 1972. This would equate to $52.84 million now.

Mr Spooner said that much of the 1972 cost was for improvements to existing roads. These improvements had been done since then. Up-dating the survey would cost about $300,000. 50 per cent of the cost could come from a regional development investigation grant with the Nelson Bays and West Coast United Councils shaving the rest of the cost The chairman of the Nelson Bays council, Mr Peter Malone, said his council did not believe the road was financially viable, but he was not opposed to holding talks with other local authorities. Mr Peter Maplesden, the chairman of the council’s regional planning committee, said talks

would be a waste of time and money. “Without a cost benefit study we are not going to go anywhere,” he said. Mr Derek Shaw said the value of a road link had yet to be proved. “The road would be the environmental issue of any decade in which it came up.” Most of those who had walked the Heaphy Track would oppose a road. Surveys in Karamea and Golden Bay had shown the local communities were divided. Mrs Ann Lewis, the chairman of the Golden Bay County Council, said a recent survey showed support for the road was increasing. A full feasibility study was the only way to estab-

lish the cost-benefits to tourism and farming of a road, she said. Commercial interests might be prepared to help fund a “pre-feasibility” study. Cr Claude Teece, the Mayor of Motueka, said a road between Golden Bay and Karamea would be a wonderful asset for New Zealand. If the South Island were fully linked by road, “you wouldn’t find a better tourist route anywhere in the world.” According to the’ 1972 Ministry of Works report any road between Karamea and Collingwood would affect the Heaphy Track and there would be opposition. The report said ample opportunity should be given for public submissions before a final decision was made.