Accelerated Regional State Highway Programme

Archive - this information is for reference only and no longer maintained.

This page relates to the 2018-21 National Land Transport Programme.

Introduction

The Accelerated Regional State Highway Programme (ARSHP) refers to funding made available through Crown appropriations external to the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF) to advance regional state highway projects considered important by the government.

Funding eligibility, assessment and prioritisation

Regional state highway projects that have not been programmed for delivery over the short to medium term by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency due to NLTF funding constraints, and have been identified by the government as regionally important, are eligible for ARSHP funding. A list of ARSHP projects has been drawn up and endorsed by Cabinet.

The Ministry of Transport undertakes assessment of the projects, their prioritisation and recommendation for funding approval. Waka Kotahi provides information as an input to the Ministry's assessment.

Key roles and responsibilities

The key roles and responsibilities are as follows:

Cabinet approves Crown appropriations to enable delivery of ARSHP projects.
The Minister of Transport recommends approval of appropriations to Cabinet.
The Ministry of Transport advises the Minister on the estimated costs and benefits, timing, priority and context of the projects recommended for ARSHP funding, based on its assessment and prioritisation, and advises of any adjustments required to appropriations for cash-flow or cost-scope reasons.
Waka Kotahi provides information on the projects (costs, NLTF priority, timing, etc) in response to the ministry's requests.
Waka Kotahi delivers the projects to the schedule agreed with the Ministry of Transport, forecasts and monitors cash-flow requirements, and advises and requests cost-scope and cash-flow adjustments.

Process

There is a specific process to follow for funding of activities as part of the ARSHP.

Process steps
The process includes following steps:
1. Ministry of Transport staff request information from Waka Kotahi on ARSHP projects including costs, benefits, timing, as well as the profile and prioritisation under the Waka Kotahi assessment framework.
2. Waka Kotahi provides the information requested along with a view of the risks around costs, resource management consents, etc.
3. The Ministry of Transport assesses the ARSHP projects based on the investment criteria that applies to the programme.
4. The Ministry of Transport advises the Minister of Transport (and the Treasury) on the viability of the projects against investment criteria and the funding required to deliver them.
5. The Minister of Transport recommends a Crown appropriation based on the advice provided by the Ministry of Transport and Treasury's view of the proposed investment.
6. Cabinet approves Crown appropriations to specified projects.
7. Waka Kotahi sets up or updates the project profiles in Transport Investment Online (TIO) as Crown funded activities (Activity Class 31) and requests chief financial officer (CFO) support to deliver these in line with Cabinet's decision. A copy of Cabinet's decision must be uploaded to TIO as supporting information.
8. The CFO and Chief Executive support delivery of ARSHP projects consistent with Cabinet's approval.
9. Sign-off of the Crown funding in TIO is undertaken at the appropriate level of delegation.
10. Waka Kotahi procures and delivers the projects, forecasting cash-flow requirements and signing off supplier invoices for payment.
11. The Waka Kotahi finance team draws down funds from the Crown appropriations and pays suppliers.
12. The Waka Kotahi finance and state highways teams report progress being made to deliver approved activities as well as expenditure.
13. Waka Kotahi forecasts forward cash-flows and advises of impending cost-scope and cash-flow adjustments and requests approval of these via TIO.
14. Waka Kotahi requests adjustments to the Crown appropriations as needed to cover cost-scope and cash-flow adjustments.
Close Back to top

Funding assistance rate

100% of the cost of approved ARSHP activities is covered by Crown appropriations.

Applying for funding approval

Applications for funding approval of proposed projects should be made through the 'Improvement activity' module in Transport Investment Online(external link) (TIO). Any ARSHP project should be noted in the relevant regional land transport plan.

End-of-year carryover

TIO will automatically carry over the unspent allocation every year. Therefore it is vital that Waka Kotahi declares as surplus the unused allocation for completed projects by making a cost-scope adjustment via the reviews module in TIO.

Online services