Auckland businesses are frustrated that long delays remain on road projects, despite an imminent increase in fuel excise.
Photo: AFP
The government yesterday confirmed an increase in fuel excise of 3.5 cents a litre, per year, for the next three years which is on top of 11.5 cents a litre Aucklanders will pay from Sunday.
Auckland's Chamber of Commerce Michael Barnett said the business community was frustrated because it could foresee vital projects like Penlink in the north or the Mill Road corridor in the south ready to go but not getting started.
Mr Barnett said the government was talking a good game but needed to put pressure on Auckland Transport and the Transport Agency to get them moving now.
"The spend is five or six years out and people are getting frustrated that they're being asked to contribute today but not see anything for a decade," he said.
AA principal adviser on infrastructure and Auckland transport Barney Irvine said it was a big ask to expect Aucklanders to pay more for petrol than the rest of the country.
"What we're seeing here is a pretty big increase in the spending on transport across the country," Mr Irvine said.
"That's great but it shouldn't fall just to motorists to cover the extra cost especially when some of the biggest new projects like light rail in Auckland are more about urban development than they are about transport."
Some businesses were concerned about how the fuel tax would work for them, given their vehicles do not drive on the road and for machinery operations.
One business feeling the frustration was freight firm LW Bonney and Sons.
Owner Calven Bonney said drivers were moving fewer goods than they should be able to each day.
For example, a driver shifting metal from a quarry in Drury to an Albany building materials factory showed the flow on effects, he said.
"Instead of doing four loads a day, he's doing three," Mr Bonney said.
"So that cost is directly passed on to the concrete plant that's passed on to the builder and developer and the person who has to buy the house."
Mr Bonney said in order to avoid the local tax, his drivers will go outside Auckland to fill up.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford said the Auckland Council was phasing in some projects and he had asked the Transport Agency to move as fast as it could on Penlink and Mill Road.