Wellington Chamber of Commerce
Media Statement
Friday 3rd June 2016

English right over transport criticism, says Chamber

Finance Minister Bill English is on the money when he criticises Wellington’s lack of a progressive attitude towards transport solutions, says Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive John Milford.

“We have only ourselves to blame, and maybe this is a timely wake-up call.

“The Chamber has been saying for some time that the city is missing out on transport solutions because it can’t get its act together. The money’s there – we just can’t get organised enough to spend it.

“It’s a bit of an embarrassment when the Finance Minister publicly attacks the city for the lack of a progressive attitude when there’s money on offer, because there are people and groups who are champing at the bit to get things happening.

“Getting a consensus on the big issues seems to be more difficult than it should be, and it’s certainly more difficult than we can afford it to be.

“Obviously the main issue is at the Basin Reserve. That’s the big bottleneck in our transport infrastructure, and it’s vital that we find a solution there. We cannot afford to be held up by small vocal groups.

“The Let’s Get Wellington Moving group – the City Council, the Regional Council, and NZTA – has done the consultation and now it needs to quickly identify next moves so we can get on and spend some of that money the Finance Minister is talking about to fix our problems.”

ends

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