The new Government has a unique chance to end the instability in New Zealand’s infrastructure pipeline and save money by committing to a longer-term plan to build what the country needs to grow and prosper. That’s the message from Infrastructure New Zealand as it releases a new report showing the costs of continuing on “our listless infrastructure path”.
“For New Zealand to reach its potential, prioritising a more certain infrastructure pipeline is an immediate action the Government can do to increase productivity and allow us to build more, for less,” says Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett. “Expert economic analysis shows this could result in billions of dollars of savings and additional infrastructure investment each year.”
The report shows that streamlining delivery by Government committing to a more certain infrastructure pipeline could result in productivity and savings improvements of between 13% – 26.5% on future infrastructure projects. If applied, these savings could increase the amount spent on infrastructure delivery by between $2.3 billion and $4.7 billion per year over the 2025-31 period.
“The end result is a massive increase of $16 billion to $33 billion in infrastructure investment through to 2031. New Zealand badly needs to drive its infrastructure build, but we also need to be prudent in what we spend in a period of fiscal restraint, so this would be a real game changer,” says Leggett.
“We know from recent research that 70% of Kiwis want more infrastructure investment. They will expect their new government to deliver that and begin addressing the country’s $200 billion infrastructure deficit.”