Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff were in agreement that current projections of an additional 800 cars each week, coming onto Auckland roads, were unsustainable.

Auckland's East-West link has been placed on ice, the Prime Minister has confirmed, following a meeting with the super city's mayor.

"We have a clear view that the current business plan was almost non-existent and not robust," confirmed Jacinda Ardern.

"We've said we will cancel the current plans as they exist but we acknowledge that there are congestion issues that mean we need to re-look at how we respond to the problems that generated the original west link plans."

Ardern and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff were in agreement that current projections of an additional 800 cars each week, coming onto Auckland roads, were unsustainable.

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The East-West Link was a $1.85 billion priority roading project of the last Government, connecting State Highway 20 at Onehunga and SH1 at Mt Wellington, with a four-lane highway. It was still in the design phase.

Goff said Auckland had to have a mass-transit system. Ardern said the Government would be refreshing what's known as the Auckland Transport Alignment Project or ATAP process, to ensure Government and council expectations were matched and to work through longer-term issues that held a funding gap.

Ardern and Goff appeared to be relatively aligned on the importance of light rail, which both leaders agreed would play a large role in improving Auckland's congestion issues.

"So it's a matter of time in how quickly we can do this, and of course it's a matter of what Auckland can contribute," Goff said.

"With a regional fuel tax we can contribute, over a 10-year period something between $1.2b and $1.5b. If we did not have the regional fuel tax, we would have to put rates up by probably around 15 per cent, which would be totally unsustainable."

Ardern agreed, saying central Government had a large role to play, "but of course it comes on both sides".

"we've had a discussion today around what council can do to make sure it finds efficiencies, so that it is in a position to fund this to a greater degree," she said.

"We've also talked about the mechanisms we can offer. We've always acknowledged that Auckland should have some skin in the game and that Aucklanders know we have problems we need to resolve.

"The regional fuel tax allows us to do that, and that's a mechanism we've been happy to offer to council to enable them to deliver these projects."

Goff also said he wanted to further explore the concept of a rate that would target properties that gained in value off the back of new infrastructure.

It was complex but fair, he said.

"I think in principle it's fair that if you're getting a massive uplift in the value of your property, that you make a contribution to the infrastructure that lets that happen."

In the meeting, Ardern and Goff also discussed the proposal to shift Auckland Port to Whangarei. A feasibility study into shifting the Ports of Auckland to Northport was part of Labour's coalition agreement with NZ First.

"What I'm happy to say is I've always opposed port expansion on its current site," said Ardern.