“The government's consulting on modernising outdated land transport rules is long overdue and welcomed by National Road Carriers Association (NRC). It will start to get rid of unnecessary red tape that trips up transport operators and thereby help dial up supply chain productivity and safety,” says NRC GM Policy and Advocacy, James Smith.
Minister of Transport, Chris Bishop, announced last month that public consultation has begun on:
- simplifying heavy vehicle permitting,
- considering additional safety requirements for vehicles entering the fleet, and
- reviewing Warrant of Fitness (WoF) and Certificate of Fitness A (CoF A) frequency and inspection requirements for light vehicles.
“Removing the need to apply for individual vehicle permits for what are now the standard vehicle used widely across the industry, 50 tonne is completely logical and reflects that virtually the entire network is now safe for 50MAX to operate on,” says Mr Smith.
“The current permitting process is paper-based, slow to administer and outdated. We want to see permitting, when it is required, to move to the 21st century, and be digitally based.
“Our main concern is that the time taken to get to this point signals a lack of understanding of the impact that lifting productivity of the transport sector has on New Zealand’s economy. As we move out of recession, New Zealand should be taking every opportunity to improve productivity, safety and resilience of the transport sector that every part of the wider economy depends on.”
Also positive is the rapid progress being made on bringing all the projects listed in the Roads of National Significance (RoNS) closer to construction start, says the NRC.
Minister of Transport, Chris Bishop, recently announced that the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board has endorsed investment cases for all of the RoNS, with the most recent endorsements including Sections 2 and 3 of the Northland Expressway, the East West Link, Hamilton Southern Links, Petone to Grenada and Cross Valley Link, SH1 Wellington Improvements including a new Mt Victoria tunnel, and the Hope Bypass.
The NZTA Board has also approved more than $675 million in funding to progress consenting, design, route protection, site investigations and some early works. In addition, more than $515 million is expected to be used from approved RoNS property funding to enable local property acquisition to get underway on these projects.
“All of these projects are much needed improvements that will deliver safety, resilience and productivity to the roading network,” says Mr Smith.
“Many have been on the drawing boards in various states for decades, so this meaningful progress is worthy of celebration.
