NZTA making good progress towards establishing Expressway Alliance

The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) says it has made considerable progress towards establishing the MacKays to Peka Peka Expressway Project Alliance, and expects the makeup of the alliance to be announced in May.

The aim of the alliance is for NZTA, the Kapiti Coast District Council (KCDC) and the expressway’s designer and contractor to all work together to achieve the best results for the project

NZTA Regional Director Deborah Hume says the tender evaluation process for the alliance is well underway.

“We expect to be in a position to announce the successful tenderers in May after which the alliance will be formed by the NZTA, the design consultants and construction contractor. We’re also working together with KCDC, which has signaled it is prepared to join the alliance.”

Dr Hume says that after the preferred tenderers are appointed, the next step in the process will be for the alliance to release an indicative timetable of work. This will give the community a better feel for when the investigation, design and construction work on the expressway is likely to happen, what it will involve, and how they can participate.

“The NZTA has made a commitment to the Kapiti community to provide certainty about the proposed route as quickly as possible.

“One of the benefits of establishing an alliance is that it will be able to move much quicker into the investigation and design phases than if we were to use traditional methods of expressway design and construction.

“This means we’ll be in a better position to provide clear information to the community and to talk to people about alignment options and design details such as the location of interchanges.

“We’ve had some positive tender proposals put forward to us that have reflected a real desire and ability to get started as soon as possible, and once the makeup of the alliance is confirmed we expect to begin work on the investigation phase within a matter of weeks.”

Dr Hume says the NZTA intends to keep the community involved and well informed throughout the course of the project, and will make ongoing announcements as the project progresses.

ENDS

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