News
Action needed on Land Transport Management Bill
Bell Gully has called for all sectors to work together to improve the Land Transport Management Bill.
The law firm has today published an Issues Paper to stimulate debate and discussion of the Bill.
Bell Gully Chairman Matthew Cockram believes that changes are needed:
- There is much to applaud in the bill, but if it is to deliver what the government wants - and the country needs - there is some work to do.
- Our greatest area of concern lies in the bill's ability to encourage private sector investment in transport projects through public private partnerships. At present, the bill contains too many risks and too great a level of uncertainty to attract private sector interest.
- However, once the submissions are in, it is critical that all sectors and parties abandon their traditional stances and work together to get this bill right: the stakes are too high to fail.
The key issues that Bell Gully has identified include:
- the project process described in the Bill seems to follow a political model with little acknowledgement of the practical stages and risks of major transport projects.
- the bill imposes different thresholds on public project and public-private projects, a situation likely to greatly limit private sector participation.
- the bill prohibits any compensation for below-forecast traffic/usage figures
- legislating for one area of commercial risk in this way is a significant and potentially price-escalating impediment.
- the bill lacks integration with the aims of the recently released New Zealand Land Transport Strategy.
- the bill contains a number of requirements for consultation and thresholds that are currently undefined or unaligned with existing legislation or policy.
A copy of the Issues Paper is available online at Bell Gully's website, www.bellgully.com. The closing date for submissions on the Bill is 28 February.
Bell Gully is New Zealand's leading corporate law firm. It has offices in Auckland and Wellington and some 250 legal staff.
