Real results for our local area
Local Column - Real results for our local area
Last Thursday I was proud to host the Prime Minister in the Otaki electorate for a busy day of visits.
It was great to meet him off his plane from Auckland at the Kapiti Airport. This is such a strong link between 1.4m people and the Kapiti Coast.
Early work has begun on the Kapiti Expressway and we viewed archaeological digging in preparation for the road's construction.
I’ve campaigned on this issue and worked hard to ensure its progression, so it’s great to see this project now beginning to take real strides.
Construction on the expressway will create around 1000 jobs for the local area over the next four years. All the contractors, surveyors, and archaeologists will provide a major boost for local shops and services, with many likely to need local accommodation.
The positive impact of this project on the local economy will be huge with new jobs and the inflow of economic growth the completed project will provide.
We also visited Ōtaki College where we were greeted by a whakatau at Te Whare Hui, supported by the junior school Kapa Haka group.
We had a good look around the college and engaged with many students. The cooking prepared in the recently upgraded technology block was yummy. The cupcakes and burgers were my favourite - thank you to the students.
We also visited Motorsport Apparel in Levin which is a textile business producing clothing for the NZ Defence Force and other suppliers. This company made the blue UN Vest worn by the Prime Minister when he visited Afghanistan.
In other news, latest figures show that the official unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2% which is the lowest for three years.
There’s been some encouraging results for our country and region, but there’s still of plenty of work to do.
This week’s budget will show that the Government remains on track to getting back to surplus in 2014/15, and I’m committed to ensuring that this progress flows through to our region.