Accelerated Regional State Highway Programme

This page relates to the 2021-24 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. ARSHP is distinct and separate from other Crown-funded programmes, such as the New Zealand Upgrade Programme or the Provincial Growth Fund.

Funding eligibility, profiling and prioritisation

Regional state highway projects, which the government has identified as regionally important, but which we (Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency as investor) have not programmed for delivery over the short-to-medium term due to NLTF funding constraints, are eligible for ARSHP funding. Cabinet has drawn up and endorsed a list of ARSHP projects.

The Ministry of Transport (‘the ministry’) undertakes profiling and prioritisation of these projects and their recommendation for funding approval. Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) provides information as an input to the ministry's profiling of the projects.

Key roles and responsibilities

The key roles and responsibilities are as follows:

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

Process steps

1. Ministry staff request information from us on ARSHP projects including costs, benefits, timing, as well as the profile and prioritisation under the Waka Kotahi profiling framework.
2. Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) provides the information requested along with a view of the risks around costs, resource management consents, etc.
3. The ministry profiles the ARSHP projects based on the investment criteria that apply to the programme.
4. The ministry 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 (for its own activities) sets up or update 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.
   Transport Investment Online(external link)

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 (for its own activities) 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. Waka Kotahi finance and state highways teams report progress being made to deliver approved activities as well as expenditure.
13. Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) forecasts forward cash flows and advises of impending cost-scope and cash-flow adjustments and requests approval of these via TIO.
14. Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) requests adjustments to the Crown appropriations as needed to cover cost-scope and cash-flow adjustments.

Funding assistance rate

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

Submitting activities for National Land Transport Programme consideration and funding approval

Waka Kotahi (for its own activities) submits these activities using the improvement activity module in 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 (for its own activities) declares as surplus the unused allocation for completed projects by making a cost-scope adjustment via the reviews module in TIO.