This page relates to the 2021-24 National Land Transport Programme.

Introduction 

This page provides an overview of the requirements for the preparation of the  Waka Kotahi Investment Proposal – the document which sets out the Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency national programme of its own activities to give effect to the Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS).

Waka Kotahi Investment Proposal 2021–2031

Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS)

The programme of activities covers all Waka Kotahi activities such as regulatory responses, fee-funded services to provide safe access, nationally managed activities that Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) will consider for funding directly from the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP), and those it will seek funding for from the NLTP through the respective regional land transport plans (RLTPs).

National Land Transport Programme

The Waka Kotahi Investment Proposal will also include activities delivered by Waka Kotahi that are funded from other sources such as the Provincial Growth Fund and the New Zealand Upgrade Programme (NZUP).  

Legislative requirements

The Waka Kotahi Investment Proposal is a non-statutory document but elements within it are prescribed in the Land Transport Management Act 2003 (LTMA).

In summary, legislative requirements are as follows:

  • Other qualifying Waka Kotahi activities that apply more generally across New Zealand, which Waka Kotahi is responsible for delivering or managing delivery of, and for which Waka Kotahi seeks funding from the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF), may be included in the NLTP . If a nationally delivered activity includes a local trial, this local component should be included in the overarching national programme.
    Land Transport Management Act 2003, section 19C(f)(ii)(external link)

Requirements for programmes and activities 

We (Waka Kotahi as investor) expect that Waka Kotahi (for its own activities), when developing its activities for inclusion in the NLTP, will meet the same criteria as required of approved organisations in the development of their programmes of activities submitted for funding from the NLTP through their RLTPs.

Planning and investment principles

Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) is expected to apply our investment principles in developing its transport programmes and activities.

2021–24 NLTP investment principles

Use of the Business Case Approach

We expect Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) to use the principles of the Business Case Approach for activities proposed for inclusion in the NLTP. We also require Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) to use the Business Case Approach for its transport activities.

Business Case Approach guidance

Evidence-based justification

All activities proposed for funding assistance under the NLTP must be supported by appropriate evidence.   

Evidence is to be provided in the Transport Investment Online (TIO) fields and uploaded as supporting information, including strategies, business cases, activity management plans, regional passenger transport plans, economic evaluation worksheets.

Transport Investment Online(external link)

Information requirements for activities

When developing activities, Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) must ensure it completes the required fields in TIO with the information relevant to the activity’s business case stage and its readiness for either NLTP inclusion or funding approval at the time of NLTP adoption.   

 Transport Investment Online(external link)

We expect Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) to monitor the impacts of its land transport investments with either centralised data or local data when centralised data is not available. Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) needs to select benefits and measures and agree on these with us. The benefits management section of InvestHub provides links to guides and manuals to provide instruction on how to fulfil the benefits requirements.

InvestHub(external link)

Safety audits

We require Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) to apply the Safe System audit procedures for projects to the development of any improvement or renewal activity that involves vehicular traffic, walking and/or cycling proposed for funding assistance from the NLTP. The road safety audit page on this knowledge base provides details of when to undertake audits or how to declare an exception.

Safe System audit procedures for projects

Safe System audit

Optimisation

We expect Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) to optimise its programme of transport activities when developing this for inclusion in the RLTP and/or NLTP.

At a programme level, this involves determining the best mix of interventions, the sequencing and scheduling of their components and relative scale of the components to achieve efficient allocation of resources over time and best value for money.    

For activities, programmes and packages, generating and assessing options  as part of business case development requires Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) to:

  • apply the intervention hierarchy to optimise existing and proposed new investments
  • use the multi-criteria analysis tool and its critical success factors.

The appraisal summary table (AST) is required at the short list and preferred option stage. The AST summarises non-monetised and monetised benefits and the whole-of-life costs. This information assists decision makers to optimise trade-off decisions.

Profiling and prioritisation

We use the Investment Prioritisation Method (IPM) to profile and prioritise activities.

2021–24 NLTP Investment Prioritisation Method

Investment profile

Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) must use the IPM to determine the investment profiles of its improvement activities, and to inform its decisions to submit activities for inclusion in an RLTP   .

We  will also profile each activity using the IPM. The resulting investment profile will help ascertain the activity’s priority for inclusion and programming in the NLTP.

Prioritisation

Our prioritisation of activities for programming in the NLTP uses  the IPM priority order, which sets out the priority order assigned to each of the three-factor investment profiles developed through the rating assessed for each of the three criteria. 

2021–24 NLTP Investment Prioritisation Method

Process

Details of the process and steps required are set out on the Process for developing Waka Kotahi Investment Proposal on this knowledge base.

Process for the Waka Kotahi Investment Proposal