Wellington Gateway Partnership wins New Zealand road contract

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has chosen the Wellington Gateway Partnership (WGP) as the preferred bidder for the NZ$ 1 billion (US$ 820 million) Transmission Gully Motorway, under an availability based Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

The WGP includes partners Leighton Contractors, HEB Construction Ltd, InfraRed Capital Partners, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) and the New Zealand Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).

The Transmission Gully PPP Project includes the design and construction of a 27 km highway just north of Wellington, with a 25-year operations and maintenance contract.

The new road will bypass the existing coastal route, increase road safety and improve network reliability with high levels of seismic resilience.

A key component of the project is the design and delivery of 29 bridges, a number of complex interchanges and the movement of more than 6 million m3 of earth. Preparatory work will start in the third quarter of 2014 with the aim of having the Transmission Gully highway open for traffic by 2020.

Leighton Contractors will be the special purpose vehicle manager for WGP and will take a majority role in the design and construct subcontract with JV partner HEB Construction, and perform 100% of the operations and maintenance subcontract. The value of the contract to Leighton Contractors is expected to be in excess of NZ$ 800 million (US$ 650 million).

Leighton Contractors managing director, Craig Laslett, said, “The WGP team brings together the local and international expertise and experience required to deliver this challenging project.

“We look forward to continuing our partnership with NZTA after successfully delivering projects including the Northern Gateway Toll Road and Newmarket Viaduct replacement project.”