The
Case against Toll Roads
Road toll as a means of revenue collection and
the
connected public-private partnerships (PPP) is bad for you. The system
is set up to increase construction costs through the commercially
secretive anti-competitive PPP system and creates a completely new and
costly industry of toll collection. Huge sums of New Zealand
taxpayers’ and motorists’ money will be diverted to
Transit’s associates mostly overseas multi-national companies
without one extra inch of road being built. The experience with these
systems overseas has been described as “A
scandal of
secrecy and profligacy allowing private firms to fleece the
taxpayer”(Guardian).
Transit’s pilot project ALPURT B2 already bears all the
hallmarks
of the above. Construction cost increases from $156 million to $360
million under the PPP system. On top of it come the toll collection
costs of more than $53 million without adding one dollar to pay for the
actual road. All these excessive extra costs end up as profits for
transnational companies without any benefit for the New Zealand
motorist. That’s why it is highway robbery.
What we can do
First we have to inform the public about the
government
plans to privatise our roads by stealth. Secondly in the case of ALPURT
B2 we can challenge the government in the High Court. Legal advice
tells us that the recent approval of the toll option is actually
illegal.
Window of opportunity
The pilot project ALPURT B2 gives us the one
window of
opportunity to bring the dire consequences of the
Government’s
policy into the open. This unique opportunity is the fact that the toll
aspect of this first project is actually illegal. The required
“high degree of support from affected communities”
is not
there. A clear majority of submissions went against the toll option.
The Government tried to get around this by conducting a bogus survey,
which is fatally flawed. The wrong people were given the wrong
information and asked the wrong questions. This gives us a very good
case for a judicial review in the High Court.
Through the judicial process the Government will have to respond to
criticism and will be held accountable. The media are eagerly waiting
to report such a “news worthy” story. With it the
issues of
toll roads will come into focus of the public mind.
The one thing holding us back so far is the lack of sufficient funds.
High Court action is costly. Even if we manage to keep costs to a
minimum these still have to be met. Therefore it is so important that
you contribute to our fighting fund now not to miss this window of
opportunity forever.
If we together don’t stop the toll now you will be paying
hundredfold in the future. If you use ALPURT B2 to travel to work five
days a week you will over the duration of the project according to
Transit’s own figures pay more than 35,000.00 dollars. For
all
the others you will soon be paying toll on roads everywhere in the
country. And don’t hold your breath for lower petrol taxes.
Your donation now is a small price to pay to stop this highway robbery.
What you can do
Contribute to our fighting fund by sending money
electronically to Highway Robbery Inc. Account number:
03-0389-0710077-00
Send cheques to postal address: PO Box 162 Silverdale, Auckland
To e-mail us click here
"All
that is necessary for
the triumph of evil is that
good men do nothing"
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)
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