44 Bowen Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
5 February 2025
Isaac Morrison
[FYI request #29427 email]
REF: OIA-17133
Dear Isaac
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email
of 3 December 2024 requesting information on the Roads of National
Significance (RoNS) under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). I wil be responding to your
request in two parts with the information on the Hawkes Bay Expressway to be provided to you as
soon as possible.
1. The business cases for al current Roads of National Significance (RoNS) projects,
including:
- Cost Benefit Ratios (BCRs)
In relation to your request for Cost Benefit Ratio’s. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has
calculated benefit cost ratios (BCRs) for the projects that were part of the former New Zealand
Upgrade programme. I am refusing your request for these BCRs under section 18(d) of the Act, as the
information requested is publicly available, and can be found on page 229 on the 2022/23 NZTA
Annual Review responses, which are available on the parliament website at:
www.parliament.nz/resource/en-NZ/54SCTIN_EVI_9e4bd7b7-5ccb-4d77-8c4b-
08dc117448e5_TIN214/1157d2ec860593ea088cacd3746f3a47092f63dd. It is important to note that while NZTA has previously calculated BCRs for some of the RoNS projects,
which can also be found within the 2022/23 Annual Review material I have linked to above. These
BCRs were calculated a number of years ago and do not represent the projects as they are currently
anticipated to be scoped.
I am refusing your request for the BCRs for the following RoNS under section 18(d) of the Act, as they
can be found online at the following links:
•
Warkworth to Wel sford: www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/ara-tuhono-warkworth-to-
wellsford/detailed-business-case-oct-2019.pdf
•
East West Link: www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/east-west-connections/EWC-DBC-Part-A-
Final-Vol-1.pdf
•
SH16 North West Alternative Highway: www.supportinggrowth.govt.nz/assets/supporting-
growth/docs/Northwest-Auckland/North-West-Detailed-Business-Case-V1.1.pdf
•
SH29 Tauriko West: www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/tauriko-network-plan/tauriko-west-
network-southern-bypass-assessment-summary.pdf
•
Petone to Grenada Link Road and Cross Valley Link:
www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/petone-grenada-link-road/docs/p2g-scoping-report-final-
2014-part2.pdf
•
Alternative to Brynderwyn Hil s in the Auckland-Whangarei PBC -
www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/whangarei-to-te-hana/Whangarei-to-Auckland-PBC.pdf
•
SH1 Cambridge to Piarere: www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/cambridge-to-piarere/sh1-
cambridge-to-piarere-detailed-business-case-may-2021.pdf
•
SH6 Hope Bypass: https://nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/richmond-transport-programme-
business-case/richmond-transport-programme-business-case-december-2021.pdf
Following the Governments release of the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024
(GPS 2024), these BCRs are unlikely to reflect a current or accurate BCR for each project. NZTA is
currently developing investment cases for each of these projects to align with the scope expectations
set out in GPS 2024. In addition, I am refusing your request for the BCRs for the remaining RoNS
under section 18(e) of the Act, as the documents al eged to contain the information do not exist.
Al projects wil go through the standard NZTA project development process, which includes detailed
investigations and business case development, before being presented to the NZTA Board to consider
for funding from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF). The investment case and associated BCR
for each project wil be updated as part of this process.
- Present Value calculations
- Economic assessment details
Present Value calculations and economic assessment details are created as part of investment cases
and these are not yet available for al projects. I have included below information that is available and
for the remaining projects I am refusing your request under section 18(e) of the Act as the information
requested does not exist.
Northland Corridor
The information you have requested is contained within the Investment Case. This is currently being
prepared for proactive release and is expected to be publicly available on the project page at
www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/northland-corridor/ by early April 2025. Therefore, I am refusing this part of
your request under section 18(d) of the Act.
Woodend Bypass
The
Woodend Bypass Economic Assessment v03a is currently being prepared for release to you. This
wil be provided as soon as possible.
- Project cost estimates
I am refusing this part of your request under section 18(d) of the Act as the information is publicly
available at
www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/About-us/docs/oia2-2024/indicative-cost-estimate.pdf. These
should be read with the caveats contained in that document.
2
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to
withhold some information and refuse parts of this request. The contact details for the Ombudsman
can be located at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss this matter further with NZTA, you are welcome to contact the Ministerial
Services team by email at [NZTA request email].
Yours sincerely
Tom James
Manager, Ministerial Services
3
