This page relates to the 2021-24 National Land Transport Programme.
This page provides the criteria to use to derive the Investment Prioritisation Method rating for the scheduling and efficiency factors.
The scheduling factor has two criteria: interdependency and criticality. The highest rating between these two criteria determines the scheduling rating. As an overview:
The default rating for both interdependency and criticality is low.
The interdependency criteria are concerned with proposed activities that are part of a wider programme or package, which may involve investments outside of the transport system, such as major housing or industrial developments. The rating is determined by the extent to which non-delivery of the activity will impact on the delivery and realisation of benefits of the overall package or programme, or by the extent to which the activity relies on the delivery of other phases or elements of the package. The interdependency rating applies to all phases of an activity.
The criticality criteria have two factors, the first being activity programming, ie the need for activities or phases to be undertaken to allow a programme or package to proceed to implementation during a specific NLTP period. The rating is determined by considering when the remainder of the package should be implemented. This rating can be different for separate phases of an activity. For example, if there were detailed business case and pre-implementation phases submitted for inclusion and implementation was to occur in the 2024–27 NLTP, the business case phase could be assigned a high rating, while the pre-implementation phase could be assigned a medium rating, as the business case needs to be completed ahead of pre-implementation.
The second factor for criticality is network resilience and is based on the additional travel time imposed through detours required if there is a risk of unplanned loss of service of part of the network. This is independent of the Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS) alignment rating for resilience improvements associated with improving freight connections or climate change adaptation.
Government Policy Statement on land transport 2021(external link)
For the definitions of programme and package see
Investment Prioritisation Method definitions and description of criteria
The table below provides the criteria for the ratings.
| Rating | Criteria |
| Low |
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| Medium |
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| High |
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The table below provides the criteria for the ratings.
| Rating | Criteria |
| Low |
|
| Medium |
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| High |
|
The efficiency factor looks at monetised impacts, generally using the benefit–cost ratio (BCR). For some activities, eg to replace a facility or technology at the end of its life, the present value (PV) of costs may be used where an asset is at end of life and is being replaced on a like-for-like basis.
Monetised benefits and costs manual
In the early stages of developing a proposed activity, there may not have been detailed consideration of the cost of ownership and quantification of benefits. To assist in these cases, we have developed a new tool to calculate an Indicative Efficiency Rating (IER) for the purpose of investment prioritisation.
Indicative efficiency rating tool
The table below shows how the BCR or PV of costs determines the efficiency rating.
| Rating | BCR |
| Very low | <1.0 |
| Low | 1.0 – 2.9 |
| Medium | 3.0 – 5.9 |
| High | 6.0 – 9.9 PV of costs (where an asset is at the end of life and is being replaced on a like-for-like basis |
| Very high | >10 |
Proposals with a very low efficiency rating (BCR<1) may be included in the 2021–24 NLTP if they are above the investment threshold for an activity class. However, funding for these activities will only be approved by exception at the appropriate level of delegation, usually the Waka Kotahi Board.
