JUNE - JULY 2022
Infrastructure strategy cannot wait While the Government is not obliged to formally respond to the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission’s 30-year Strategy until September, it would be negligent not to act now with urgency, Civil Contractors Chief Executive Alan Pollard says
Breakdown of the strategy's 68 recommendations •
3 recommendations to strengthen partnerships with and opportunities for Māori
•
4 recommendations to enable a net-zero carbon emissions Aotearoa
•
4 recommendations to support towns and regions to flourish
•
13 recommendations to build attractive and inclusive cities
•
4 recommendations to strengthen resilience to shocks and stresses
•
9 recommendations to move to a circular economy
•
9 recommendations to enable better decision making
•
10 recommendations to improve funding and financing
•
4 recommendations for an enabling planning and consenting framework
•
3 recommendations to accelerate technology use
•
5 recommendations to build workforce capacity and capability
44 infrastructurenews.co.nz
N
ew Zealand’s civil contractors have welcomed Rautaki Hanganga o Aotearoa – New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy 2022–2052 as ‘a new beginning’ and look forward to working to address the country’s massive infrastructure deficit with increased support, better planning, and targeted investment from government. The strategy provides vital vision and direction for the country’s infrastructure networks, framing challenges and solutions in a way that gave ‘much-needed clarity’. This national blueprint shows us how much work we have to do to get where we need to be, laying out the challenges and proposing solutions from an objective viewpoint, providing avenues for consensus and setting a coherent plan that can adapt to our future needs. The Strategy lays bare the huge task in bringing the country’s infrastructure up to date, with a massive construction worker shortfall projected to reach 118,500 by 2024, construction costs rising 60 per cent faster than the rest of the economy, an infrastructure deficit of $210 billion, and a need for infrastructure spending
at $31 billion a year. As well as challenges, the Strategy also explores potential solutions and ways to work smarter, as opposed to simply spending more. Of particular significance is where spending would have the most positive effect. Balancing the need to maintain existing infrastructure as well as build new is important, as is the need for government, support agencies and industry to partner on the implementation of the strategy. We now have a shared direction we all need to get behind long-term. Not just infrastructure constructors, who have been aware of and working to resolve these challenges for some time, but Government, opposition parties, iwi, local government, and everyday New Zealanders. This applies on a massive scale such as through State Highways, major projects and urban centres; but is just as relevant at the smaller scale of a community or individuals. We need to change our thinking about infrastructure. It’s important we consider more than just major projects, but also think of the road or public transport
