Roading Submissions Close

A high level of public interest in the Government's proposals for changing the way our roads are funded has resulted in more than 1000 submissions on the proposals, Transport Minister Maurice Williamson said today.

While submissions contained in the discussion document Better Transport Better Roads (BTBR) formally closed today, the Ministry of Transport expects the last submissions to flow in over the next few days.

"The Government has strongly encouraged submissions. The Ministry of Transport has held more than 150 meetings with Maori and key interest groups around the country to explain the proposals," said Mr Williamson.

"The discussion document has been made available on the Government homepage and thousands of BTBR documents have been distributed. At the same time, to ensure that people could examine the fine print, the Government made the related Cabinet papers and a draft Bill publicly available. I think that this has been a highly successful consultation exercise."

Mr Williamson said it was still far too early to comment in any detail on the submissions, but that the number of submissions received, and the high calibre, was "very pleasing".

"The Ministry now has a lot of work ahead examining the submissions, and will be doing that with great care," Mr Williamson said.

"A widespread view in many of the submissions was a vital need for change to the way roads are managed and funded. There is a lot of support for many parts of the Government's proposals, but submissions also raised a number of issues and possible alternatives," Mr Williamson said.

The Ministry will now analyse submissions and report to the Government on the major issues arising later this year. In the meantime, the Ministry will continue to liase with Local Government, road users, other interested groups and with Maori, to discuss their submissions further.