SOARING fuel prices are biting into roading budgets, raising the spectre of abandoned developments and reduced maintenance.
Transit New Zealand chief executive Rick van Barneveld said the cost of many roading materials, including bitumen, had risen sharply in recent years with the increased cost of crude oil.
He said most national resealing and resurfacing work was finished before the most recent rise, meaning its impact was limited. "However, if the high prices of oil continue into spring it will have an impact on our maintenance work in the future."
Chanel Replica Handbags Transit is responsible for maintaining state highways, while district councils look after local roads.
Oil producers organisation Opec warned this week that the price of oil could rise from about US$120 (NZ$154) a barrel to US$200.
Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said ratepayers were hurting, but councils' biggest costs were in maintaining core infrastructure.
"You can't just do nothing. We have to maintain our assets. We are audited on that."
ghd iv styler If oil did go up to US$200 a barrel, however, it would take a lot of vehicles off the road, and councils could abandon roading projects that would cease to be viable or even needed.
Hastings District Council infrastructure manager Mark Kinvig said contractors were giving notice that they could not continue to absorb fuel-price increases, which had pushed up the cost of bitumen, machinery, and transport.
They were also paying massively higher prices for materials such as copper and steel, and losing key staff seeking better pay in Australia.
Wairoa district Replica Emporio Armani council operations manager Bill Lewis said his council spent more than half its annual $23 million budget on 830 kilometres of roads.
He said if fuel prices continued to soar there would come a point where councillors had to make some hard decisions.
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