50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
27 September 2019
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
Barry Garrick
[FYI request #10943 email]
Ref. OIA-55
89
Dear Barry
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of 9 August 2019 requesting the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
The former Minister of Transport in 2017 said of the following planned four-lane
motorways "...are expected to cost around $10.5 billion" - can I please have any and all
advice and estimates that shows the expected costs for them provided in 2017?
o
Wellsford to Whangarei
o
Napier to Hastings
o
East West Link in Auckland
o
Manawatu Gorge
o
Cambridge to Tirau
o
Levin to Sanson
o
Piarere to the foot of the Kaimai
o
Christchurch Northern Motorway
Range
o
Christchurch to Ashburton
o
Tauranga to Katikati
On 3 September 2019, the NZ Transport Agency extended the timeframe for responding to your
request. In collating and assessing the information from each of the regional project teams, we
discovered that we had not done cost estimates for the statement you referenced.
The 2017 announcement that you reference, was a political party policy announcement, rather
than a Government policy announcement. This means that any estimates used would have been
generated by the political party themselves.
As the Transport Agency did not provide estimates for the policy statement you’ve requested
information in relation to, I am refusing your request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the
information requested does not exist.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to
refuse this information. You can find the contact details for the Ombudsman at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. If you would like to discuss this reply with the NZ Transport Agency, please contact Ministerial
Services by email to [email address].
Yours sincerely
Leisa Coley
Manager, Ministerial Services
