Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Alan McDonald: Employers and Manufacturers Association Head of Advocacy on the Hawke's Bay Expressway getting an upgrade

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Alan McDonald: Employers and Manufacturers Association Head of Advocacy on the Hawke's Bay Expressway getting an upgrade · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Construction on the first Road of National Significance is underway.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Ground has been broken on the Hawk's Bay Expressway, which
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: is a twenty seven kilometers four lane highway set to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: carry around twenty nine thousand vehicles a day. It's hoped
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: starting work early, we'll get the job done sooner. Alan
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: McDonald's with the Employees and Manufacturers Association. Allan, Good morning,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: corning Eran, good to have you back on the show.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: This is quite an important route. Tell us who uses it?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Why it's important in connecting to the port there.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you've kind of nailed it just in
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: the intro. Ryan. It's important because it does link up
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: into the port, and if you look at a number
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: of the roads of National significance and the number of
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: the ports and the fast track application process for consent,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: it's showing a bit of joined up thinking where we're
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: improving access for freight and for people around the ports
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: and those critical links into some of the more critical
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: economic areas of the country's growth and infrastructure.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: They reckon starting early will help reduce the overall construction
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: time and they should have it done twelve to fifteen
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: months sooner than planned. Are you you know quietly confident.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I think with all of these things that any big
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: piece of infrastructure, the quicker you get it going, the
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: less chance for big cost overruns, I think is probably
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: the best way to put it, because they never get cheaper,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: so the longer you leave them, the more they cost.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Is this something that you can say, this will reduce
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: the cost of goods by x y and z, or
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: this will increase efficiencies by x y z, or is
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: it more The more of the stuff that we do,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the more attractive we are to businesses, the easier and
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: cheaper things should get.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, there will be gains both ways. I mean
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: there will be some travel time gains and things like that.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: There's only a thirty case section of road twenty nine ks,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: so you know those gains are does that, but they're
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: not huge in terms of efficiencies. But it's again it's
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: about linking in all the various regional parts. So if
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: you look around that Roads of National Significance program, it's
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: all designed to make connections between the economic hubs of
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: the country better so that you can move stuff around better,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: move freight between the ports, move freight to the ports,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: all of those good things that just signal that we're
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: making progress on some of our infrastructure and it will
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: be easier and better to do business and move stuff around.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, big job at here, doesn't that Alan? Thank you
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: for that. Alan McDonald the Employers and Manufacturers Association.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, Listen live
• 2:48
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• 2:51
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