Public Private Partnership

PPP contract awarded for Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway project

In November 2016, the NZ Transport Agency awarded a contract to the Northern Express Group) for the project to be delivered as New Zealand’s second Public Private Partnership (PPP) for a state highway after the Transmission Gully motorway project in Wellington.

Under the PPP contract, the Northern Express Group will finance, design, construct, manage and maintain the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway for the 25 years that will follow the expected six-year period to build the motorway. Full ownership of the highway will remain with the public sector. It is aimed to have the Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway open for traffic by 2022.

The Northern Express Group is made up of firms with considerable experience in the design, construction, finance, maintenance and management of key infrastructure projects. The principal partners in the consortium include:

• Accident Compensation Corporation
• HRL Morrison & Co Public Infrastructure Partners
• Acciona Concesiones S.L.
• Fletcher Building Ltd
• Acciona Infrastructure Australia Pty Ltd
• The Fletcher Construction Company Ltd

 A PPP procurement means that the motorway is being delivered quicker than if funding was obtained through conventional channels.

PPPs have a proven track record for delivering great results for large-scale infrastructure, and using a PPP made good sense for the project. 

The size and complexity of the project means it will benefit from the innovation the private sector will bring to the task.

The 'availability’ PPP model adopted for the project also means that payments are not linked to the volume of traffic using the road. 

The PPP contractor will be paid for making a safe road open and available to traffic, and after achieving specified performance levels such as safety, customer satisfaction, reliability and journey times.

PPP agreement and schedules

Availability status of the agreement relating to the Pūhoi to Warkworth Public Private Partnership

The Project Agreement and the accompanying Schedules that form the contract documents relating to the Pūhoi to Warkworth Public Private Partnership have been made available for public viewing by the New Zealand Transport Agency. The table below sets out the availability status of each of the Project Agreement and the Schedules, being:

• whether a document is available in its entirety; or
• whether a document is redacted in part as it contains certain information that is being withheld to protect commercial sensitivity or privacy.