50 Victoria Street
Private Bag 6995
Wellington 6141
New Zealand
T 64 4 894 5400
F 64 4 894 6100
www.nzta.govt.nz
17 July 2023
Tim Hurdle
[FYI request #23153 email]
REF: OIA-12920
Dear Tim
Request made under the Official Information Act 1982
Thank you for your email
of 16 June 2023 requesting the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
1. Please provide copies of any reports, briefings or cabinet papers on the decision to raise
toll prices.
2. What are the exact proportions paid for debt repayment, interest costs, operating costs
and GST for the Tauranga Eastern Link SH2 and the Takitimu Drive SH29 to be paid from tol
revenues?
3. What is the current level of debt and the expected final repayment date for
(a) Tauranga Eastern Link SH2
(b) Takitimu Drive SH29
4. How are operating costs determined for toll roads?
5. What are the interest rates and terms of loans on the toll roads?
I will address each of your requests in turn below:
In response to part one of your request, one briefing was provided to the Minister of Transport and has
since been publicly released under the title BRI-2744 Consumer Price Index increase in tol road
charges.
This can be found in the April 2023 section of publicly released Advice provided to the Minister:
www.nzta.govt.nz/about-us/advice-provided-
toministers/#:~:text=Every%20month%2C%20Waka%20Kotahi%20proactively,proactively%20releasin
g%20the%20written%20advice.
There is one other document that fal s in scope of this part your request. This document also provides
information requested in part five of your request. In this case the consultations necessary to make a
decision on the release of this information cannot be made within the original 20-working-day time
limit. Therefore, we are extending parts one and five of your request for a further 7 working days and
wil respond to you on or before 26 July 2023. This is allowed for under section 15A of the Act.
The second, third and fourth parts of your request are publicly available on our Tol ing, General
Frequently Asked Questions:
www.nzta.govt.nz/roads-and-rail/toll-roads/toll-road-information/frequently-asked-
questions/general/.
Information regarding interest rates and terms of the loan are publicly available in our Waka Kotahi
Annual Report which is publicly available, on page 128, and available at:
www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/annual-report-nzta/2021-22/.
Under section 28 of the Act, you have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision to refuse
parts of this request. The contact details for the Ombudsman can be located at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you would like to discuss this reply and extension with Waka Kotahi, please contact Ministerial
Services, by email at [NZTA request email]
Yours sincerely
James Sorensen
Manager Ministerial Services, Enterprise
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