ACT’s Infrastructure Spokesperson Simon Court is right behind the six Wellington Councillors calling for the scrapping of Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM).
“Monthly spending on LGWM shot up from $280k in 2017 to $7.4 million in March 23 – and what is there to show for it?” he said. “One pedestrian crossing.”
“If spending money was a medal winning achievement, then Waka Kotahi, the Greater Wellington Regional Council and Wellington City Council would share the podium.
“For LGWM's total $100 million spend, all they have managed to produce is a $2.4m pedestrian crossing. It’s like the old joke about how to make a small fortune. In this case take a large fortune and give it to LGWM.
“It’s the most shameful waste of public money on a transport project since the now cancelled Auckland Bike Bridge.
“ACT would cancel this project and go back to basics.
“The Basin Reserve Flyover project declined by a planning tribunal was meant to unlock traffic congestion and enable efficient public transport between the city and Eastern suburbs including the airport.
“Instead LGWM pretends that a light rail to the South Coast and sterilizing the Golden Mile with a parade of buses is somehow going to help the long-suffering citizens of Wellington get places they need to be.
“The wheels have fallen off, there’s smoke coming out of the engine, it's time LGWM was put down like an out-of-control monster in a bad Hollywood movie,” he said.