“Promise on Road Project Broken” screams the front page of the Waikato Times today. It was being delivered to homes all over the Waikato just as John Key was delivering his speech outlining his Government’s programme for the year ahead. How appropriate!
The NZ Transport Agency came to Hamilton yesterday to deliver the news that the Hamilton leg of the expressway is now not scheduled for completion until 2024. The problem is that the Nats made an election promise to complete the Waikato Expressway inside ten years – that is by 2018.
The other problem is that the Minister has reversed the order of construction so that the Hamilton by-pass comes last. That will create a bottleneck effect as the construction takes place to the north and the south of Hamilton first.
It means larger volumes of traffic will be delivered to congested Hamilton streets until 2024.
It looks like the Hamilton Government National MPs, David Bennett and Tim MacIndoe lack the influence and the ability to get their major election promise delivered.
Oddly enough, even though John Key used his speech to announce the Kopu Bridge replacement for the 11th time, the Waikato Expressway didn’t feature in his speech at all today. Hmmmmm………curious.
Sounds like they will have the billboards at either end up the longest.
Whats the bet Joyce will not front up in Parliament to answer the inevitable questions.
Silly us for not realising it was one of those ‘aspirational’ promises
I am wishing the current PM and his cabinet colleagues stop applying any of their real talents to blurring the difference between ‘aspiration’ and ‘puffery’, and quickly direct their energy and effort towards real growth in the economy.
The PM’s statement to Parliament today was more like a whimper.
The more realistic move to close the gap with Australia is for me to pick up and go now, which I am seriously planning to do.
Don’t forget to remind Hamiltonians about that during the election campaign!
I found it quite odd the first time I drove along the expressway, how it is not continuous but broken up into at least two separate sections, if I’m correct.
I’m in Iain’s electorate but after having driven through Hamilton a few times I think Hamilton really needs that bypass.
It needs the train service to Auckland too.
If I remember correctly from the campaign for better public transport meeting I went to last year. David Bennett said that we couldn’t afford to delay the Waikato Expressway, not even for a month in order to get a passenger train to Auckland. So I wonder what could have caused a six year delay?