Evidence shows the main intended outcomes were achieved.
Public projects · approximately 2006–2026
Follow the funding.
Check what was delivered.
A growing catalogue of major New Zealand government projects and investment programmes across infrastructure, health, education, IT and regional development. Each profile will trace why it was funded, how it changed, what was delivered and what evidence says about the outcomes.
How to read this catalogue: A listed project is a lead for further research, not an endorsement or outcome verdict. Dated project facts are shown only where verified from primary sources; other entries remain leads for verification and are not rated here.
How project outcomes will be labelled
Labels summarise evidence against stated objectives; they are not a score for a government or a judgement based only on budget or schedule.
Some outcomes were achieved, or delivery is still underway.
The intended outcomes were not achieved, or the project was discontinued before they could be achieved.
Available evidence is not enough to assess outcomes fairly. This is the initial status until a case is researched.
Further funding, cancellation and sunk costs will be described separately from the outcome label. Money already spent does not by itself justify continuing or stopping a project.
Explore the project catalogue
Browse discrete projects and major investment programmes selected for public significance, scale or relevance to a major policy area. Use the linked records to verify scope, dates and status before drawing conclusions.
Infrastructure
Transport links and networks
Dates verifiedRail · Auckland
City Rail Link
Practical completion: June 2026 · Public services began: September 2026
City Rail Link Limited reports practical completion and handover at the end of June 2026, an official opening on 11 September, and public services from 13 September 2026. These milestones do not establish whether the project's intended benefits have been achieved.
Profile pendingRoad · Wellington region
Transmission Gully
State-highway project identified for a full profile. Verify the approved case, scope, timeline and outcomes against official project records before assessment.
Profile pendingRoad · Auckland region
Pūhoi to Warkworth
State-highway project identified for a full profile. Confirm official milestone, cost and scope records, then compare delivery with the approved objectives.
Health
Facilities and services that support care
Lead · verifyHospital · Dunedin
Dunedin Hospital redevelopment
Potential major hospital project for a full profile. Verify current scope, approvals, delivery phases, baseline and the latest status from official health-infrastructure records.
Education
Learning environments and public services
Lead · verifySchool property · Canterbury
Christchurch Schools Rebuild Programme
Potential multi-school rebuild programme for a full profile. Confirm the programme's scope, school-level delivery, dates and completion evidence through current Ministry of Education records.
IT & digital government
Initiation, purpose and evidence of outcomes
These are selected documented cases, not a ranked top ten. The first six were identified by the Auditor-General as projects that realised benefits; four further cases have positive but partial, interim or unproven benefit evidence and are not counted as full successes. The unsuccessful list includes only cases with official evidence located so far; it is not padded to ten.
Benefits achieved (6 documented cases)
Benefits achievedEmergency support
Christchurch Earthquake Support Package
- Initiated
- 2011 · Government, delivered by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD)
- Why
- Rapid financial support for employers and employees affected by the February earthquake.
- Outcome
- The payment system distributed $53m in its first week and $202m to 20,000 employers and 50,000 employees by 30 June 2011.
Benefits achievedTransport data
InfoConnect — real-time travel information
- Initiated
- 2008 · New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA)
- Why
- Make traffic and road information available so third parties could provide useful travel services.
- Outcome
- By May 2012, about 300 third-party providers had access to NZTA datasets for real-time travel services.
Benefits achievedBorder services
SmartGate
- Initiated
- 2009 · New Zealand Customs Service; Cabinet endorsed the build plan
- Why
- Improve passenger clearance speed and capacity while maintaining border controls.
- Outcome
- More than 3m passengers had used it by May 2012; Customs reported faster processing, lower primary-processing costs and staff freed for risk work.
Phase 1 benefits achievedStudent loans
Student Loan System redesign — Phase 1
- Initiated
- Business case 2006/07; funding approved 2009/10; Phase 1 live 2012 · Inland Revenue with the Ministry of Education and StudyLink/MSD
- Why
- Give borrowers one current view of their loan and improve online administration.
- Outcome
- Borrowers received a consolidated, daily updated account; 90% of users of the new channel services used the web portal. Phase 1 delivered only 40–50% of the wider redesign scope.
Benefits achievedLand records
Landonline
- Initiated
- 1997 · Government decision; delivered by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ)
- Why
- Replace paper land-title records and support electronic searching, lodgement and registration.
- Outcome
- More than 70% of title transactions were registered immediately and about 1% lodged manually; the Auditor-General also reported less manual processing and storage, better data quality and faster conveyancing.
Benefits achievedEmergency access
111 Deaf Text Service
- Initiated
- Development prompted in 2007 · New Zealand Police, with Deaf Aotearoa and deaf users
- Why
- Enable deaf people to contact emergency services directly by text, without relying on intermediaries.
- Outcome
- Police reported direct emergency access and response times comparable with public expectations; the Auditor-General reported improved accuracy and fewer delays and miscommunications.
Partial, interim or not-yet-demonstrated benefits (4 cases)
Partial evidenceShared ICT
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- Initiated
- GCIO work began 2010; agencies began using IaaS in 2012/13 · Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO)
- Why
- Share scalable infrastructure instead of each agency buying and managing its own.
- Outcome
- The Auditor-General recorded measurable savings across shared ICT services, with the $100m annual savings target exceeded by March 2017. Uptake and benefit measurement remained incomplete.
Wider benefits unprovenImmigration services
Vision 2015 / Immigration Online
- Initiated
- Initial project mid-2000s; programme approach changed in 2012 · Immigration New Zealand
- Why
- Modernise visa processing and provide online applications, status checks and communications.
- Outcome
- Online visa services were delivered broadly on time and budget, but the Auditor-General could not determine how far the programme achieved its wider intended service benefits.
Interim resultsTax administration
Inland Revenue Business Transformation
- Initiated
- 2011 · Inland Revenue
- Why
- Modernise revenue systems, resilience, tax collection, administration costs and customer interactions.
- Outcome
- Reported interim benefits included a $90m revenue increase, $60m cumulative administration-cost reduction and fewer SME compliance hours in 2018/19. The Auditor-General said significant benefits remained and value for money was not yet confirmed.
Benefits not demonstratedHealth · patient portals
Patient portals
- Initiated
- Uptake grew from 2015; Ministry support aligned with the 2016 Health Strategy · Ministry of Health, primary health organisations and general practices
- Why
- Let patients access health information and interact with general practices online.
- Outcome
- By March 2017, just over half of practices offered portals and about 9% of adults were registered. The Auditor-General saw possible access and efficiency gains, but benefits were not measured well enough to demonstrate impact.
Additional lead (outcome not assessed)
Profile pendingPublic health · national
NZ COVID Tracer app
- Initiated
- Launched May 2020 · Ministry of Health
- Why
- Support COVID-19 contact tracing by helping people keep a record of places they had visited.
- Outcome
- Not assessed here; operational results, retirement and an official evaluation need to be verified before assigning an outcome label.
Did not achieve intended outcomes / discontinued (4 documented cases)
DiscontinuedPolice systems
INCIS — Integrated National Crime Information System
- Initiated
- 1993 · New Zealand Police; government-funded
- Why
- Provide Police with an integrated national information system and related operational tools.
- Outcome
- Abandoned in 1999 before the intended system was delivered.
Failed at launch; later remediatedEducation payroll
Novopay school payroll system
- Initiated
- Development preceded its 2012 introduction · Ministry of Education
- Why
- Replace the school payroll system and pay school staff accurately and reliably.
- Outcome
- The launch brought serious payroll problems and school-audit disruption. Later remediation means this records failure at introduction, not a claim that the system remained unusable indefinitely.
Intended service not achievedDigital health
Waikato DHB–HealthTap platform
- Initiated
- Discussions in 2014; contract in 2015 · Waikato District Health Board
- Why
- Implement a digital health platform to support new ways of delivering healthcare.
- Outcome
- The Auditor-General’s inquiry examined procurement and implementation; the DHB said implementation reached only a minimum viable product, not the intended full service.
Poor collection outcomesCensus · digital-first
2018 Census digital-first collection
- Initiated
- Planning preceded the 2018 collection; exact start depends on how the initiative is defined · Stats NZ
- Why
- Shift census responses online while obtaining reliable population and household data.
- Outcome
- The census had poor response and data-quality outcomes. This is a failure of the wider collection approach, not evidence that the online channel alone caused every shortcoming.
This evidence review found six projects explicitly identified by the Auditor-General as realising benefits, four with mixed or interim evidence, and four defensible unsuccessful cases. It did not establish ten successful and ten unsuccessful cases on a comparable basis. “Initiated” dates are the earliest documented start or decision found in the cited sources; where sources do not give a precise start, that limitation is stated. Reported benefits do not by themselves prove the project caused every outcome.
Public investment
Government-backed investment programmes
Funding facts verifiedFreight · Manawatū
Bunnythorpe Regional Freight Hub
Kānoa announcement: 8 July 2026
Kānoa reports a Regional Infrastructure Fund loan of $1.9 million for pre-construction and up to $20.5 million for construction, conditional on a robust business case and delivery plan. Treat the wider Te Utanganui programme separately from this project.
Funding facts verifiedHeritage · Rotorua
Rotorua Museum restoration and fit-out
Kānoa announcement: 8 October 2026
Kānoa reports a $2 million Regional Infrastructure Fund grant for the permanent exhibition fit-out, with reopening planned for 2028. The planned reopening is not a completed outcome; restoration and fit-out should be assessed separately.
Programme · profile pendingRegional development
Provincial Growth Fund
Government investment programme identified for a portfolio-level profile. Verify its funding decisions, project selection, delivery and independently assessed regional outcomes.
“Lead · verify” entries are research candidates, not fully verified project records. The linked pages are starting points, not complete citations. Add project-specific approvals, scope, delivery changes and evaluations before assigning an outcome label. Use the project page template for each researched case.