In April 2026, the New Zealand Government agreed to strengthen investor assurance to focus on what Ministers need to make good well-informed decisions. Five changes to the Investment Management System settings were agreed, one of which was to develop a new process called Investment Decision Assurance (IDA). The new IDA replaces Gateway and the Infrastructure Priorities Programme.
For infrastructure projects, the new IDA will be delivered by the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga. Treasury will retain responsibility for non-infrastructure projects including data and digital, organisational transformation, and specialist equipment.
Since the announcement, the teams at Treasury and Te Waihanga have been working together to develop a draft policy and framework for the new investor assurance programme. Treasury leads on the policy development and will maintain responsibility for it over the long term, while Te Waihanga will be responsible for coordinating the delivery of the investor assurance process for central government infrastructure projects. The draft policy and framework are due for Government approval in September 2026 with the new programme available from 1 November 2026.
This page will be updated as decisions on IDA are made over the remainder of 2026.
In the meantime, if you have any queries, please email us.
For more information:
- Strengthening infrastructure investment assurance
- The Treasury - Strengthening Investor Assurance May 2026 newsletter
- The Treasury - Strengthening Investor Assurance July 2026 newsletter
Asset management assurance
In its response to our National Infrastructure Plan, the Government also confirmed timelines and requirements for asset management assurance and long-term investment planning for infrastructure providers.
For more information: