NZ opts for PPP to build new motorway

Transport Agency chief executive Geoff Dangerfield said that the project seeks to procure a PPP contract that would deliver a value-for-money motorway which will assist economic growth in Northland. “A PPP contract will likely see the PPP consortium manage and maintain the motorway for the 25 years that will follow the anticipated six-year period to build the motorway,” he said.

“Using a PPP for key infrastructure projects will open the door for private sector innovations that are not always achievable under traditional public sector procurement methods,” he added. “PPPs allow specific outcomes to be established and measured - and for risks to be identified and transferred to the private sector.

A shortlist of consortia is expected to be identified by the third quarter of 2015, which will be followed by the selection of a preferred bidder by mid-2016, and the awarding of the PPP contract in the last quarter of 2016.   

Tentatively, construction of the Puhoi to Warkworth motorway could possibly start in late 2016 with the road completed and open by 2022. No decision has been made on tolling.

It will be the Transport Agency’s second highway PPP. In July 2014, the Transport Agency signed a PPP contract with the Wellington Gateway Partnership to build the Transmission Gully project. Work began in September last year and the motorway will be open for traffic by 2020.

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