This page relates to the 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme.
Waka Kotahi NZTransport Agency develops an assessment profile for prioritising activities in the National Land Transport Programme (NLTP) by merging the results alignment assessment and cost–benefit appraisal for each project. In the development of the NLTP and in its investment decisions, Waka Kotahi reviews the assessments made and prioritises activities within each activity class using the assessment profiles. Waka Kotahi may also consider additional factors that have been identified.
Programmes and activities assessed with a low, medium, high or very high results alignment will progress to prioritisation.
Programmes and activities assessed as not meeting results alignment criteria remain at the strategic case stage.
A prioritisation table lists all possible profiles and assigns a priority based on:
results alignment
cost–benefit appraisal.
Prioritisation is the basis for including improvement activities in the NLTP. Depending on the amount of funding available for an activity class, activities with sufficiently high priority are included in the NLTP. Activities are assessed for funding approval at the time they are ready to progress, following the development and assessment of an appropriate business case.
The following activities are prioritised as improvements (in no particular order):
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The table below summarises the priority order for improvement programme proposals based on the scores achieved for results alignment and cost-benefit appraisal.
Results alignment |
Cost-benefit appraisal |
Priority order |
Very high |
L/M/H/VH |
1 |
L/M/H |
Very high (BCR 10+); PV EoL* |
2 |
High |
High (BCR 5-9.9) |
3 |
High |
Medium (BCR 3-4.9) |
4 |
Medium |
High (BCR 5-9.9) |
4 |
High |
Low (BCR 1-2.9) |
5 |
Medium |
Medium (BCR 3-4.9) |
5 |
Medium |
Low (BCR 1-2.9) |
6 |
Low |
High (BCR 5-9.9) |
7 |
Low |
Medium (BCR 3-4.9) |
8 |
Low |
Low (BCR 1-2.9) |
Exclude |
Note: BCR = benefit–cost ratio; PV EoL = Present value end of life
CloseImprovement activities that have yet to be approved, other than low cost, low risk improvements, are assessed and prioritised in two stages.
Improvement activities that have yet to be approved, other than low cost, low risk improvements, are assessed and prioritised in two stages:
Funding approval:
During the course of the NLTP, when improvement activities are submitted for funding approval, the project owner and Waka Kotahi review and confirm the assessment profiles or revise them. At this stage, the project owner must be prepared to provide full information to inform the investment decision. Waka Kotahi then compares the resulting priority order with the funding threshold for the activity class and decides whether to fund the activity.
See below for information on the investment thresholds for the 2018–21 NLTP and the funding priorities for improvement activities.
CloseFunding decisions for these programmes are usually made when the NLTP is adopted. This provides the sector and the Waka Kotahi investment partners with the certainty of continuous funding, which is reinforced by the appropriate assessment of the proposals received by Waka Kotahi.
Applying the IAF to continuous programmes supports decisions on cost-effective levels of investment to maintain an appropriate customer level of service, rather than providing definitive investment decisions.
The following activities are prioritised as continuous programmes (in no particular order):
Waka Kotahi develops an assessment profile from merging the results alignment and cost–benefit appraisal for each continuous programme proposal, and uses this profile for determining the priority for these activities in the NLTP.
As Waka Kotahi and investment partners collaborate in assessing business cases for continuous programmes, these business cases are expected to achieve a medium or above rating from the IAF assessment. If a business case has any inadequacies, a condition is applied to its funding (eg one year of funding approved with the subsequent funding contingent on resolving the inadequacies during the NLTP period).
Funding levels will be informed by the assessment profile and will take account of the Waka Kotahi intervention hierarchy (see Planning and investment principles ’Right outcomes, at the right time and at the right cost’.
Results alignment |
Cost–benefit appraisal |
Rank |
Very high |
N/A |
1 |
High |
High |
3 |
High |
Medium |
4 |
High |
Low |
5 |
Medium |
High |
4 |
Medium |
Medium |
5 |
Medium |
Low |
6 |
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Continuous programmes are assessed and prioritised in a single stage.
Approved organisations and Waka Kotahi (state highways) assess their own programmed activities, including public transport services and operations, road maintenance, promotion of road safety and demand management, and low cost, low risk programmes.
Waka Kotahi takes this into account in making its assessment and determining the assessment profile. Sufficient information usually exists at the time of including these activities in the NLTP to make the investment decision and approve their funding, most often for all three years of the NLTP.
CloseA number of activities are hybrids of core improvement and continuous programmes.
Waka Kotahi assesses results alignment only for investment management proposals.
The investment management activity class is considered under its component parts, with each part assessed and prioritised separately. Some parts are allocated a default profile eg regional land transport planning, sector research and investment in the funding allocation system, recognising that these are either core activities (ie non-discretionary) or have a robust process for assessing and prioritising the activities within them.
Some parts of transport planning are assessed and prioritised for results alignment in a similar way to improvement activities, i.e. transport modelling, activity management planning improvements, and programme business case development.
CloseThe majority of road safety promotion activities are low cost, low risk activities, ie below $1m in total cost, and therefore are assessed as a programme in the same manner as low cost, low risk programmes for road improvements.
Road safety promotion activities above $1m in total cost are assessed and prioritised separately, in the same way as an improvement activity in other activity classes.
Demand management is a new component of this activity class and the activities are assessed and prioritised separately, also in the same way as an improvement activity.
CloseThe road policing programme is made up of a base programme which maintains current levels of enforcement, and an improvements programme.
The base road policing component is assessed at a programme level, in a similar way to continuous programmes. Improvements to the road policing programme are assessed and prioritised in the same way as an improvement activity in other activity classes.
Road policing is under review and a range of recommendations are expected regarding delivery of, and investment in, the road policing programme.
CloseThere is a streamlined approach for assessing low cost low risk improvement programmes for projects less than $1m in total cost . The IAF identifies the criteria for results alignment of low cost low risk programmes as follows:
Key principles for low cost, low risk programmes include:
As a rule, National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) funds are allocated first to the highest priority activities in the NLTP.
R funds
Any remaining regionally distributed (R) funds are allocated to the highest priority improvement projects in each region until the funds are fully allocated. Collection of R funds ceased on 31 March 2015. Under the legacy R funding policy, projects with low strategic fit and/or effectiveness may be allocated R funds if they are of highest priority in the region.
R funds can be allocated to the following activity classes, including minor improvements:
C funds
Crown (C) funds appropriated prior to full hypothecation of the NLTF, and now included in the NLTF, are allocated to the highest priority activities pertinent to the specified purpose for which they were originally appropriated.
N funds
Remaining projects are allocated nationally distributed (N) funds in each activity class until the total allocation of funds to that activity class is fully provided. Waka Kotahi will decide the funding allocations to each activity class within the range defined by the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport.(external link)
All continuous programmes are eligible for NLTF funding within the relevant activity class. The allocation of NLTF funds to continuous programmes will take account of the priority ranking when considering the distribution of available funds.
CloseThe priority order at which funding becomes fully allocated to an activity class is the investment threshold.
Activity class |
Investment threshold – funding priority order |
State highway improvements (metropolitan areas, see Regional improvements activity class for list of areas) |
6 |
State highway improvements (non-metropolitan areas) |
6 |
Local road improvements |
6 |
Public transport improvements |
6 |
Walking & cycling improvements | 6 |
Regional improvements | 6 |
Transport planning | 6 |
Waka Kotahi categorises improvement activities under the funding priorities, based on their priority order.
Waka Kotahi categorises improvement activities under the following funding priorities, based on their priority order.
Committed* | Projects approved in a previous NLTP |
Approved | Projects approved within the current NLTP |
Probable | Funding has not yet been approved for the activity but, based on its profile and the robust evidence provided in developing the NLTP, funding approval is likely for an application made in 2018–21, subject to funds being available |
Proposed | Funding has not been approved for the activity in the 2018–21 NLTP. Based on its profile and the evidence provided in developing the NLTP, funding approval may be given when an application is made in 2018–21. Further evidence is required to confirm the assessment profile and provide confidence in the funding priority and availability of funds |
Not included in NLTP | Projects which are below the funding threshold, have cash flow outside of the NLTP period, or have been excluded for eligibility reasons |
*Committed activities do not have to be prioritised because they have already been approved by Waka Kotahi.
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