44 Bowen Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
22 July 2025
New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties
[FYI request #31384 email]
REF: OIA-18764
Dear New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email of 24 June 2025 requesting the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Please provide information on the five environmental incidents over the three fiscal years
2020-21, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 which were the most costly for NZTA in terms of the
remediation measures they led to which NZTA paid for, or records containing that information.
We are looking for the total cost per incident of the remediation measures and any report you
prepared on each incident.
On 3 July we clarified both the definition of ‘incident’ and the number of incidents required. You
responded with:
1) We would define “incident” broadly, as including both natural and more man-made events.
So both weather-related events and chemical spil s would be included.
2) We are looking for the 5 most expensive incidents over the three fiscal years, not 15
incidents.
Please see the requested information below. These are weather events only, as unfortunately, we’re
not able to provide information on man-made events, such as a chemical/oil spil from a crashed
vehicle. Due to how the costs for these types of incidents are recorded, we are unable to isolate
individual events in the system to provide details. They do not have a specific project created like
emergency works do.
The five natural, environmental incidents over the three fiscal years 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23
which were the most costly for NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) in terms of the remediation
measures are as fol ows:
1. January-February 2023 North Island Weather Events (NIWE) – Cyclone Gabriel e and
Auckland Anniversary Floods: $1,744M.
2. August 2022 Weather Event atmospheric river – Mangamuka Gorge: $276M.
3. July 2021 Weather Event Marlborough: $141M.
4. March 2022 Weather Event, compounded by Cyclone Fili two weeks later: $53M.
5. May 2023 Weather Event Upper North Island: $36M.
Please note the following in relation to this data: Al figures have been rounded to the nearest $1M.
Actuals attributed are based on National Land Transport Fund funding only (including Crown
appropriations) and do not include Council cost share or other third-party contributions. They are also
based on completed financial years, including 2024/25. Please note that as at 9 July 2025, the
2024/25 actuals are not yet finalised. Forecast costs for future years have not been included, however
future costs are not expected to affect the selection of the five costliest events.
NZTA records emergency works (EW) as projects for individual councils and state highway regions.
Quite often, subsequent events compound the damage and therefore, the remedial costs, related to
the initial event, so the one project may cover off multiple events. In the case of the NIWE, the projects
generally include both the Auckland Anniversary Weekend event and Cyclone Gabriel e, but some
Councils also include Cyclone Hale as the three events were too close to be able to attribute individual
sites and damage to a specific event.
In regard to your request for any reports that have been created, there are hundreds of reports created
around these events, especially NIWE. We requested clarification around what information you were
seeking on from the reports on 15 July 2025 but have yet to hear back from you.
Due to this, I am refusing the portion of your request for any reports that were created under section
18(f) of the Act because the information cannot be made available without substantial col ation or
research. You are welcome to make another request for these reports under the Act at any time, but
please specify what information you are seeking from these reports.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to 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 reply with NZTA, please contact Ministerial Services by email to
[NZTA request email].
Yours sincerely
Sam Russell
Manager Ministerial Services
2
