It has been reported that the “public sector comparator test” which was used to advance the Transmission Gully Project as a P3 arrangement actually found that proceeding with the project through traditional means would have been cheaper. But New Zealand’s government is refusing to release the results of their analysis until after the P3 contract is already signed, a move which has angered members of the public. Those opposed to the project contend that if there truly was value for money in the project being delivered as a P3, there would be no issue with making the results of the comparator public. They also point to released government figures that show that Transmission Gully will cost $900 million to build, but payments to the private consortium will total over $3 billion.
