Councillors at the infrastructure services committee meeting yesterday were told that because of a recent change to a three-year government funding cycle there were new priorities for regional land transport funding.
The new focus emphasised the importance of economic growth and productivity when weighing competing demands from local authorities such as the Dunedin City Council for government transportation funding.
The final assessment criteria for government funding were not expected to be confirmed until later this year, but deputy mayor Syd Brown yesterday warned it was "looking quite ominous" for the entire South Island.
That was because only one South Island roading project - work on the Christchurch motorway network - was included in a government list of seven roading projects of national significance, Mr Brown said.
Council transportation planning manager Don Hill said in a report that no Dunedin projects were on the list, although the council had requested work on the city's southern corridor to Port Chalmers be added.
The council expected to spend $45.72 million in 2008-09 on transportation projects, including $20.9 million from the Government via the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Cr Brown said future funding would remain a "guessing game to a degree" until the new assessment criteria were finalised, but Dunedin's problem was that few projects were through the planning and consent stages and ready to be started.
That meant any money that was available was devaluing, while the number of potential projects already stretched "well beyond what's there" in terms of funding, he said.
Mr Hill said the availability of funding for walking and cycling projects was a concern, with "huge demand" in that area.
"There's unlikely to be enough to do all the projects in our area.
"We are still waiting for advice on that," Mr Hill said.
Regional transport committees - comprising representatives from local authorities, the NZTA and other parties - would combine the various local authorities' wish-lists into regional land transport programmes covering the next three years, Mr Hill said in a report.
The regional programmes would then be combined into a national land transport programme by the NZTA, with projects given priority based on the new criteria, which were expected to be confirmed in August, he said.
