30-year plan for infrastructure

Bill English
Bill English
Central and local government together are expected to spend $110 billion over the next 10 years on infrastructure and Finance Minister Bill English does not seem averse to a users-pay arrangement.

However, he warned in a speech yesterday, any charges for infrastructure use should never be used simply to raise revenue.

Mr English was in Christchurch yesterday to launch the ''Thirty Year New Zealand Infrastructure Plan'' which he said would require co-ordination across central government, local government and the private sector.

Infrastructure supported people's daily lives, even if they did not think about it all that often - unless something went wrong.

''Infrastructure is a key driver of the economy. For businesses to invest another dollar and employ another person, they need to be confident they have reliable access to the right infrastructure.''

Infrastructure also underpinned the delivering of social services.

Ensuring that education, health and justice networks were fit for purpose gave the Government the best chance of making a difference in the lives of New Zealanders, he said.

As a country, New Zealand owned about $200 billion of infrastructure assets across central and local government - not too far short of $50,000 for every person in the country.

The infrastructure plan had 145 initiatives in total but Mr English singled out only a few on which to elaborate.

Along with other stakeholders, the Government planned to develop national, shared data standards for roads, water and buildings.

That would ensure all were using a consistent base on which to build evidence, undertake forecasting and deepen capability.

A common basis of facts, methodologies and approaches would help cut through the assumptions which sometimes led people to talk across each other when making infrastructure decisions.

The specialised skills were not needed in every government department or every council so the Government planned to establish centres of excellence in using data to support decision making, he said.

Another key action was to look at how best to undertake long-term integrated regional planning, he said.

''Expensive and long-lived infrastructure won't deliver the right results if planning occurs in silos.''

Mr English also debunked the common theory of the Christchurch rebuild reaching a peak.

''In fact, it is around 50% complete. Construction will continue at a high level for a number of years.''

 


At a glance

• Government launches new infrastructure plan to take into effect growing but ageing population.

• Central government agencies expect to invest $5 billion of capital for each of the next five years in infrastructure.

• A total of $110 billion was expected to be spent on infrastructure over the next 10 years.

• Canterbury rebuild set to remain strong for more years.


 

 

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