The Government has hit back at the National Party’s newly announced $500 million transport policy, otherwise known as the Pothole Repair Policy.

The policy included a $500 million fund to be established for state highway and local roading repairs, a new directive to Waka Kotahi to double the current rate of roading renewals, and halve the standard response rate for pothole repair from 48 to 24 hours.

“Rather than wasting money on slowing people down, giant red zeros, or expensive transport projects nobody wants, like the $30 billion Auckland light rail project, National will focus on fixing and enhancing our roading network to ensure people and freight can move around the country safely and efficiently,” said National’s transport spokesperson Simeon Brown.

However, the Government said National created the current problems on the transport network after it froze maintenance funding when it was in office.

Transport Minister David Parker said National needed to explain how they would fill the “giant pothole they’re creating in the transport budget”, with the numbers to pay for the scheme not adding up.

He said the “so-called pothole repair fund would raid other road safety funding to fix a problem that they created themselves”.

“This Government is spending more on road maintenance, including pothole repairs, than any previous government,” Parker said.

“The current state highway maintenance budget is $2.8 billion for 2021/24 – that’s a 65 per cent increase on the $1.7 billion that National spent during 2015/18, when it was last in office.

“Maintenance spending on all roads, including local roads, has increased by 54% since this Government took office.”

Parker said the Labour Government inherited a road maintenance crisis.

“National chose to freeze road maintenance funding during its time in office in order fund high-profile new highways.

“As a result, roads were resurfaced at less than half the rate they should have been. The state of our roads deteriorated, making them more vulnerable to damage from the extreme weather events that have hit the North Island in particular this year,” he said.

“We have since remedied that, and we are catching up, but they caused the problem.”

National said the cost of the Pothole Repair Fund will be met from re-prioritising spending within the National Land Transport Programme, including a reduction in expenditure on activities such as blanket speed limit reductions and speed bump installations, as well as the Road to Zero advertising campaign.

“Rather than wasting money on slowing people down, giant red zeros, or expensive transport projects nobody wants, like the $30 billion Auckland light rail project, National will focus on fixing and enhancing our roading network to ensure people and freight can move around the country safely and efficiently,” Brown said.

Meanwhile, the  pothole pledge is getting the thumbs up from National Road Carriers.

“Potholes are a continual hazard for road freight deliveries as well as the general public – we’ve seen record numbers of them, and a clear priority to address them is well overdue,” said NRC chief executive Justin Tighe-Umbers.

Tighe-Umbers said Waka Kotahi has been stretched and asked to complete everything from modal shift to public transport, rail, emissions reduction and Road to Zero, without the extra budget or people necessary.

“As a result, the focus on getting the basics right – road maintenance – has clearly slipped. The National Party’s policy gives clear direction to Waka Kotahi to focus on the table stakes essential for drivable roads,” he said.