Canterbury transport spend

Land transport funding sources

Ninety-six percent of the forecast funding for Canterbury's land transport activities will come from either central or local government.

Central government has committed 63 percent (or around $3.3 billion) via the National Land Transport Fund (NLTF), while local district and regional councils will contribute a further 33 percent (or $1.8b) primarily through rates and public transport user charges. The National Land Transport Fund is funded primarily by fuel taxes and road user charges. A review of future funding arrangements is underway as of 2022.

Central government will also provide funding through the New Zealand Upgrade programme (3 percent).

The remainder of revenue will be contributed by the Provincial Growth Fund (2 percent) and the Department of Conservation (0.1 percent).

For more information on funding sources, please refer to page 57 of the Regional Land Transport Plan.

Transport spend by organisation

Local and district councils, Waka Kotahi and the Department of Conservation are all responsible for undertaking land transport projects in Canterbury.

Spend over the 10-year period 2021/22 – 2030/31

• Waka Kotahi has the single largest land transport spend in the region, with around $1.8 billion set aside for regional land transport projects. Almost half ($790 million) is allocated to state highway maintenance.
• The Christchurch City Council is expected to spend nearly $1.4b on land transport projects, with around 62 percent of its expenditure ($861m) allocated to local road maintenance, and a further 15 percent ($212m) to local road improvements.
• Environment Canterbury is expected to spend around $1.15b, with 99 percent for operating public transport services and planned service improvements. The remainder is allocated to investment management, including providing secretariat services for the South Island Regional Transport Committee Chairs Group.
• The nine Canterbury district councils combined will spend approximately $1.2b (or 22 percent) of the total allocated budget on roading projects, while the Department of Conservation will spend $6.4m (0.1 percent) on local road maintenance and improvements.

Spend by activity class

The RLTP provides projected expenditure on either different categories of land transport projects, including maintenance, roading improvements, road safety, public transport and walking and cycling infrastructure.

The largest of these activities, local road maintenance, is the responsibility of district councils as well as the Department of Conservation, and is expected to cost $1.7 billion over the 10-year period from 2021/22 to 2030/31.  As expected, the larger the district, the higher the projected spend, with the Christchurch City allocating $861 million to local road maintenance, followed by the Timaru District Council with $231 million.

Local road improvements are also the responsibility of the region's district councils, and are projected to cost a further $461 million (8.4 percent) over 10 years.

Expenditure on road safety, funded through the Road to Zero activity, accounts for 13 percent of total spending.  Waka Kotahi contributes to approximately 80 percent of the expenditure with a number of district councils accounting for the remainder.

Walking and cycling projects are to cost $183 million (3.3 percent), with Christchurch City Council accounting for 84 percent of this spend – much of which is allocated to the provision of new cycleways around Christchurch city.

Related links

• Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency
• Waka Kotahi funding and transport dashboard and open data
• District and regional councils in Canterbury
• Department of Conservation