40678 (2025). Tangi Utikere to the Minister of Transport

40678 (2025). Tangi Utikere to the Minister of Transport: Why did NZTA only approve $124 million for Southland’s 2024–27 NLTP programme when the Council’s minimum request was $147 million to maintain its network to bare minimum standards?

Hon Chris Bishop: I am advised that in line with the Investment Prioritisation Method, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) assessed each Councils maintenance funding bid against criteria including: - how well the programme prioritised an optimised suite of activities to sustain the current level of service - how the programme planned to address deficiencies in levels of service that align with the strategic priorities as set out in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2024 - performance of the programme over the previous National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) period - efficiency based on benchmarking across Approved Organisations in terms of the cost to deliver outcomes. I am advised that Southland District Council had requested a 54% increase in funding compared to the 2021-24 NLTP period. The assessment undertaken by NZTA resulted in a recommendation to fund approximately 90% of the bid across local road operations, local pothole preventions, and bridge replacement programmes. Only 20% of the bid for footpath and cycleway maintenance funding was received due to restricted funding in the walking and cycling activity class. The total maintenance funding allocation for the Southland District Council in the 2024-27 NLTP represented a 34% increase on the funding allocated in the 2021-24 NLTP.