In July 2014, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract with the Wellington Gateway Partnership (WGP), a private group of financiers and contractors, to design, construct, finance, and then operate and maintain the new motorway for the 25 years following the construction period.
Transmission Gully is the first motorway in New Zealand to be constructed on behalf of the New Zealand Government under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract.
A PPP is a long-term contract between the public and private sectors covering the financing, construction and operation of public infrastructure and services. The motorway will remain a public asset – it is never owned by the PPP.
PPPs allow large and complex projects to benefit from private sector innovation and funding which can increase certainty of delivery and drive better value-for-money. There are also savings to be had on all aspects of the project – design, build, maintenance and operational management.
PPPs are typically used for large-scale infrastructure projects where risks can be effectively identified and transferred to the private sector. Waka Kotahi aims to use successful ideas and innovations that come out of the Transmission Gully motorway PPP across other motorway projects and the wider transport network.
