The Kāpiti Coast District Council won the BERL Collaborative Government Action Award category at the 2017 McGredy Winder SOLGM Local Government Excellence Awards on Thursday 12 April for its work to get the Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway on the road.
The BERL Collaborative Government Action Award recognises outstanding results that have been achieved through local authorities working with other government agencies.
Mayor K Gurunathan says the Council’s involvement with the M2PP Alliance was held up as an excellent example of central and local government working together at its best.
“The Award recognises the efforts of Council staff and members of the M2PP Alliance who worked collaboratively and in partnership to deliver a project that will provide significant social, economic and environmental benefits to the Kāpiti Coast community for years to come.”
The M2PP Project was the first time the NZ Transport Agency had ever asked a local authority to join an alliance. The M2PP Alliance, a private sector consortium, was set up to design and build the $630 million Mackays to Peka Peka Expressway.
Chief Executive Pat Dougherty says the Council was very fortunate to have been invited by the NZ Transport Agency to join the Alliance.
“While it wasn’t always plain sailing, it allowed the Council to play an active role in decision making at the board table and gave us our best shot advocating for our community’s interests as well as realising the benefits and minimising the impacts of the Expressway.”
“Everyone involved was committed to engaging with our community, doing a high-quality job and delivering a project the community would be proud of.”
Mr Dougherty says the Council is now intent on extending the successful model of collaboration it enjoyed with the NZ Transport Agency and their construction partners throughout the design and construction of the M2PP project to the Peka Peka to Ōtaki Expressway project.
