NEW ZEALAND: The government has shortlisted two organisations to develop the City Centre – Māngere light rail project in Auckland, it announced on August 22. It expects to select a preferred bidder early next year.
The shortlisted bidders are the NZ Transport Agency, a government body, and the NZ Infra joint venture of the government’s New Zealand Super Fund and CDPQ Infra.
While NZ Infra is proposing a PPP model for project delivery, NZ Transport Agency ‘is exploring a range of procurement, financing and delivery models’. Minister of Transport Phil Twyford said that ‘both of these options for delivering light rail are credible, but neither are fully developed, and we need to understand the long-term implications.’
The planned 23 km light rail route would run along Queen Street and Dominion Road in Auckland city centre, before passing through Mount Roskill, Onehunga and Māngere to reach Auckland Airport.
