50 Victoria Street 
Private Bag 6995 
Wellington 6141 
New Zealand 
T 64 4 894 5400 
F 64 4 894 6100 
www.nzta.govt.nz 
22 November 2021 
Jack Gibbons 
[FYI request #17306 email] 
REF: OIA-8965 
Dear Jack 
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982 
Thank you for your email of 22 October 2021 requesting the following information regarding the Ōtaki 
to North of Levin (Ō2NL), under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act): 
1) what is the current expected project cost?
2) will the business case or BCR be re-evaluated to reflect the new higher project cost?
Following a number of significant changes, the Government confirmed additional funding for the New 
Zealand Upgrade Programme, including Ō2NL in June 2021.  
The new 24km highway and shared walking and cycling path has an estimated cost of $1.5 billion, 
which includes contingencies to allow for risks on project costs such as property purchase, 
construction materials and resources, and increases arising from more detailed investigations. Costs 
will continue to be refined as the project is developed. An update of the benefit-cost ratio (BCR) will be 
included in the Detailed Business Case which is currently underway. 
Unfortunately, the previous cost estimate ($817 million) had not been updated on the Ō2NL 
programme webpage. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, it has now been updated 
Further information on the Ō2NL project can be found online at: www.nzta.govt.nz/o2nl-proposed-new-
highway/.    
If you would like to discuss this reply with the Waka Kotahi, please contact the Ō2NL project team by 
email to [email address]. 
Yours sincerely 
Robyn Elston 
National Manager System Design 

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