AA welcomes progress on Puhoi-Warkworth highway

The AA has welcomed today’s decision by the Government to allow the Puhoi-Warkworth Road of National Significance (RoNS) to be delivered through a public-private partnership (PPP).

The new stretch of road is expected to be built between 2016 and 2022, and the PPP would likely see the successful consortium manage and maintain the highway for the next 25 years.

“It’s great to see the project move into the next phase,” said AA spokesman Barney Irvine. “Doing it as a PPP provides an excellent chance for innovative approaches and value-for-money results, and that’s exactly what we want to see.”

Mr Irvine added that the project offered important road safety, travel-time, and resilience benefits, and would play an important role in increasing economic activity in Northland.

“Anyone who has driven this road over the last few years, and witnessed the ever-increasing volume of truck traffic, knows that it’s much more than a road for holiday traffic,” said Mr Irvine. “This is Northland’s economic and social lifeline to the rest of New Zealand.”

The Government expects a shortlist of PPP consortia to be identified by the third quarter of this year, a preferred bidder to be selected by mid 2016, and the contract to be awarded by the last quarter of 2016.

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