Genter urges climate change action
Widespread damage from four storms that pummelled several New Zealand regions in 2017 and 2018 has so far cost about $100 million in emergency works on key roads.
‘‘This is why it’s so important for us to take action on climate change,’’ said Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter yesterday at one of those emergency work sites, atop Takaka Hill.
‘‘If we get more frequent weather events like this, we’re going to be constantly having to rebuild our infrastructure.’’
NZ Transport Agency figures reveal that national emergency works spending has ramped up from an annual spend of about $30m between 2014-15 and 2016-17 to almost $79m in 2017-18, and just over $72m in 2018-19 – with more to come.
Emergency works funding covers the effects of adverse weather and not extraordinary events such as earthquakes.
In Tasman District, ex-tropical cyclone Gita’s fury brought down slips across State Highway 60 in February 2018, forcing the closure of the Takaka Hill section.
More than $2.6m was spent in 2017-18, followed by more than $4.8m in 2018-19, on 10 minor repair sites on the hill, but further costs and work are yet to come, with the entire project tipped to cost $20m. The next stage will involve building walls and reinstating a second lane of the road at five major repair sites.
As she surveyed the damage on Takaka Hill and saw the plans for some of the major repair sites, Genter said central and local governments ‘‘are going to have to work together on adaptation plans and ensuring we have the resources to be able to respond to severe weather events’’.
‘‘The work that’s being done here demonstrates they’re thinking about how they can make improvements to the road at the same time, so we’re responding to the emergency, reinstating the road, (and) also putting in place additional safety barriers at the same time.
‘‘The engineers are trying to come up with designs that will have as long a life as possible, but we don’t know how frequent these events are going to get, so we’re going to have to be planning, monitoring and adapting.’’