How much of the $13 million dollars set aside for the redevelopment of the Pages Road Bridge is new funding, and how much, if any, is existing funding?

Answer

The Member is incorrect in his assertion that the only funding provided by the Government for replacement of the Pages Road Bridge is $13 million. To be clear, the Government confirmed $13 million in September 2024 as part of the 2024-27 National Land Transport Programme. The total implementation cost for the project is $75.4 and the $13 million was the amount of funding expected to be spent by Christchurch City Council (CCC) on the project for this 2024-27 NLTP period. I also confirmed this funding to you in the House in answer to questions on Tuesday 8th April 2025 as part of the Transport Annual Review debate. Later in August 2025, NZTA endorsed the Business Case for the Pages Road Bridge replacement and approved their full and total funding contribution of $38.6 million to enable CCC to get on with replacing the bridge. This announcement is publicly available on the Beehive website here: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/funding-christchurch%E2%80%99s-new-pages-road-bridge-confirmed The initial funding approval through the NLTP and confirmation of the overall total confirmed in August collectively represent new funding, as funding had previously never been approved by NZTA for pre-implementation and construction for replacement of the Pages Road Bridge. Replacement of the Pages Road Bridge is a priority. Given that the Government, through NZTA, has already committed to funding its half ($38.6 million) of the project, I expect CCC to get on with the work to replace it sooner rather than later.