There have been several calls made recently for TCC to look at selling off Route K to private investors. That is a totally unrealistic proposal because no one would be interested in purchasing and even if TCC could find another mug to pay say $20m, the balance of the debt, around $35m would still remain a liability with ratepayers forever.
If NZTA continue to refuse to take over Route K and the associated debt of $55m, then another more palatable option may be to reach an agreement with NZTA for it to assume liability for the annual interest payments of $3m+ with TCC retaining liability for the capital debt of $55m.
NZTA would of course get all the future tolls revenue and would also need to enter into a binding agreement to take Route K debt within say 15 years. It's a win, win situation as NZTA wouldn't have to find the capital and TCC gets rid of a huge annual interest bill so the debt itself stabilises.
This deal will probably ending up costing NZTA $1 – 2m per annum and that's small change for them. The other huge advantage for ratepayers is that the debt remains on the books in the meantime as a TCC liability and so prevents TCC borrowing any more money to spend on other half-baked schemes, protecting ratepayers from Council indulgences.
This option should be realistic enough even for TCC to negotiate with NZTA as they probably have weekly meetings in any event.
If it all proves beyond the 550 TCC staff and Councillors capability, there are plenty of private individuals out there who may be able to broker a deal and give a lead to Council on how it's done, assuming of course there is some goodwill from NZTA to enter into discussions.
R Paterson, Matapihi.