10 billion dollars for a 24 km expressway that nobody needs. How f***ing stupid. We can't afford to look after our old and our I'll, we can't afford to give children a decent lunch, cooked on site, we can't afford to build decent housing, we can't afford to look after our water and wildlife, we don't think people deserve a living wage, but we are falling over ourselves, trying to get investors (half of whom are probably involved in fossil fuels) not to invest in any of the above, but to build a bloody road, to kill more.animals and people, pump more carbon into the atmosphere and generally to make life worse. The sooner this government gets the boot, the better.
We can't afford cancer drugs, good nutrition (how short sighted is that) or housing solutions to rising homelessness. We can't even afford to buy a decent ferry. But we can spend an obscene amount on a road. The Bach the Bemmer and the Boat (and somewhere to drive it) are more important.
PPP - is the cost of govt borrowing for these projects lower than the expected returns sovereign & foreign infrastructure funds would demand, over the investment horizon (time to pay it back)? I’m guessing it is, but I presume Chris Bishop & Nicola Willis, being the very smart people they are would have done that calculation.
The Cost Benefit Modelling of this road is astonishingly poor. It is a massive white elephant. I'm sure Greater Auckland discussed the fact that if the returns needed to be funded from tolling only (in other words, no government input), you would be looking about $30 each way to drive on it.
The govt won't tell you the rate of return on this, unless you ask via OIA. But you can bet it's pretty dismal. If the real cost in terms of health and climate impacts are included, it's a big liability. And our children will be paying for it for decades.
The ten year NZ bond rate is currently under 5%; can we imagine any foreign investor being satisfied with that sort of return on an asset like a road? Or double or triple that? The return, whether govt bond or ppp will be extracted through user pays.
Re NZME, Fox reassures chickens that him owning and running their coop will be fine...
Shouldn't be that difficult for him. The Herald has had a right wing, male dominated culture for years.
10 billion dollars for a 24 km expressway that nobody needs. How f***ing stupid. We can't afford to look after our old and our I'll, we can't afford to give children a decent lunch, cooked on site, we can't afford to build decent housing, we can't afford to look after our water and wildlife, we don't think people deserve a living wage, but we are falling over ourselves, trying to get investors (half of whom are probably involved in fossil fuels) not to invest in any of the above, but to build a bloody road, to kill more.animals and people, pump more carbon into the atmosphere and generally to make life worse. The sooner this government gets the boot, the better.
Go Annie!! Rich man's priorities.
We can't afford cancer drugs, good nutrition (how short sighted is that) or housing solutions to rising homelessness. We can't even afford to buy a decent ferry. But we can spend an obscene amount on a road. The Bach the Bemmer and the Boat (and somewhere to drive it) are more important.
PPP - is the cost of govt borrowing for these projects lower than the expected returns sovereign & foreign infrastructure funds would demand, over the investment horizon (time to pay it back)? I’m guessing it is, but I presume Chris Bishop & Nicola Willis, being the very smart people they are would have done that calculation.
The Cost Benefit Modelling of this road is astonishingly poor. It is a massive white elephant. I'm sure Greater Auckland discussed the fact that if the returns needed to be funded from tolling only (in other words, no government input), you would be looking about $30 each way to drive on it.
The govt won't tell you the rate of return on this, unless you ask via OIA. But you can bet it's pretty dismal. If the real cost in terms of health and climate impacts are included, it's a big liability. And our children will be paying for it for decades.
The ten year NZ bond rate is currently under 5%; can we imagine any foreign investor being satisfied with that sort of return on an asset like a road? Or double or triple that? The return, whether govt bond or ppp will be extracted through user pays.