Transfund's allocation process for land transport in New Zealand
The New Zealand Government sees transport policy as fundamental to fulfilling its broader social, economic and environmental goals. In recent years, this has led to profound changes in the policy and funding framework for New Zealand’s land transport. Those changes have covered the legislative framework and transport strategy as well as the funding allocation processes. As the government agency responsible for allocating funds to land transport, Transfund New Zealand has been at the forefront of the changes. A key development has been the shift of focus from economic efficiency of individual projects to a broader approach in which economic assessment is supported by wider qualitative and quantitative environmental, health and safety assessments. Where New Zealand was previously positioned well towards the ‘mechanistic’ end of the funding allocation spectrum, it has now moved into closer alignment with the international trend towards using a strategic, multi-criteria approach. The paper has four parts: 1. the impact of the new legislative framework on Transfund’s functions, roles, polices and processes; 2. the funding allocation process for 2004/05 and beyond; 3. how the funding process compares with international practice; 4. the contribution of monitoring in achieving land transport policy objectives.