NZ Transport Agency to Phil Twyford: We should have done better

Monday, 21 October 2019

A Busway to Auckland Airport will be on the way following an upgrade to Puhinui Station. (Video from June 2019)

The chair of the NZTA has said it 'could have and should have' done better for Transport Minister Phil Tywford after it mishandled an unsolicited consortium bid from the NZ Super Fund to build Auckland's light rail project.

Sir Brian Roche said the Transport Agency let Twyford down through its handling of the process.

Things got so bad that Twyford eventually gave the job of examining the bid to the Ministry of Transport, taking it out of NZTA's hands.

Roche, who joined the board after the fiasco, said the Agency 'dropped the ball,' and lost the confidence of the Minister.

The remarks come after leaks published in Stuff showed the tortured process NZTA had gone through after receiving an unsolicited bid to build the light rail from the NZ Super fund.

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The Agency damned the project, with its former interim chair calling it 'vague' and saying it was initially presented on just six power point slides.

Leaked correspondence to Stuff showed NZTA thought the proposal was so weak that it should have been rejected out of hand.

Instead, Twyford pushed on, eventually allowing the Super Fund bid to be put up against NZTA's own plan.

Roche said NZTA should have been more accommodating of the bid. The Agency had a culture of doing things on its own, and therefore had a prejudice against a proposal from an outside organisation.

Twyford agreed the Agency had dropped the ball.

'They were directed to run a market sounding process and assess the NZ Infra bid and other options for funding and financing, much like the current process,' Twyford said.

'Because of this failure, I then directed the Ministry of Transport and Treasury to provide further advice on NZ Infra proposal who advised it was worth considering further,' he said.

Twyford said that NZTA had since stepped up their game.

Back in May, NZTA was asked to work on developing a process to assess other bids to build light rail.

'My clear view is the Agency dropped the ball,' Roche said. 'The agency was asked to do something and it failed,' he said.

The process has now been taken out of NZTA's hands. It is working on its own bid, which the Ministry of Transport will assess alongside the bid from the Super Fund.

Roche said this occurred after Twyford lost confidence in NZTA's ability to manage an outside proposal.

Twyford said that by the end of 2018 it was clear that NZTA had not been able to do what Cabinet had asked it to.

'Cabinet directed NZTA in May 2018 to lead the development of light rail and work with Treasury and the Ministry of Transport to assess all potential proposals – it became clear at the end of 2018 that did not happen,' Twyford said.