The New Zealand Transport Agency has selected two consortia to move into the next phase of tender process for the Transmission Gully PPP project. The two consortia are made up of New Zealand-based and international organisations.

The following consortia have been selected to proceed to the next stage of the tendering process:

Wellington Gateway Partnership

• Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd (lead)
• HEB Construction Ltd
• InfraRed Infrastructure General Partner Ltd
• The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd (BTMU)
• Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)

Positive Connection

• John Laing Investments Ltd (lead)
• Fulton Hogan Ltd
• The Fletcher Construction Company Ltd
• Macquarie Group Holdings New Zealand Ltd
• Woodward Infrastructure Ltd as General Partner of Public Infrastructure Partners LP (PIP Fund)

In May, a request for proposal (RFP) will be issued to the two shortlisted consortiums, and NZTA is working towards announcing the successful bidder in early 2014.  The NZ Transport agency called a Request for Expression of Interest from consortia interested in the project in December 2012.

The NZTA is proposing to use an availability and performance-based public private partnership (PPP) contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Transmission Gully highway.

The term of the PPP contract will be 25 years. The consortium would recover the initial construction costs and ongoing financing and maintenance costs through regular, fixed payments from the NZTA. The availability payments will be linked to the road's performance.

The 27-km Transmission Gully route forms the MacKays to Linden segment of the Wellington Northern Corridor which runs from Levin to Wellington Airport. The project will enable economic growth, improved road safety and reduced traffic congestion.

The estimated investment for the project is US$811 million.

Source: NZ Transport Agency