44 Bowen Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
29 July 2024
Barry Garrick
[FYI request #27459 email]
REF: OIA-15773
Dear Barry
Extension of time to respond to request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of 1 July 2024 requesting a copy of the NZ Transport Agency Waka
Kotahi (NZTA) proposal mentioned in Hon Phil Twyford’s 24 June 2020 press release and
information provided to the NZTA Board under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Now that the Auckland Light Rail project has been disestablished and there should not be
any commerciality reasons to withhold, may I please have NZTA's proposal as mentioned
in this press release:
[https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/auckland-light-rail-process-ended]
This should include any summaries and briefings to the Board and Minister which
detailed what was in the proposal.
To provide you with some context for this letter, NZTA participated in a competitive bidding
process in 2019. The resulting bid, along with appendices and sub-appendices, consists of 143
documents and over 3,500 pages.
NZTA has been considering your request, working to locate the information and preparing to
consult with other parties on a possible release of information. This is a significant number of
documents and NZTA must properly consider the information before making a decision.
As such, this letter is to advise you that NZTA is extending the 20 working days available to
respond to your request, as allowed for under section 15A of the Act. We require an additional 25
working days and wil send you a response on or before 2 September 2024.
The extension is necessary as your request is for a large quantity of information and meeting the
original time limit would unreasonably interfere with our operations.
In addition, given the large number of documents falling in scope of your request, we would like to
provide you the opportunity to clarify or refine your request to particular information you may be
interested in receiving. For example, a copy of the Executive Summary document (46 pages)
which outlines the proposal in detail, key decision making documents or Board papers in relation
to the Parallel Process bid proposal.
If you are interested in receiving a refined package of materials, we would be happy to work with
you to identify and consider the release of such documents in an appropriate timeframe.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to complain to the Ombudsman about the
extension. More information about the Ombudsman is available online at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss the extension with NZTA, please email the Ministerial Services team
via email to [NZTA request email].
Yours sincerely
James Sorensen
Manager Ministerial Services
