The new Government has an opportunity to end uncertainty in New Zealand’s infrastructure pipeline and unlock billions of dollars each year through long-term planning and productivity benefits.
That’s the message from Infrastructure New Zealand as it releases a new report titled, ‘Estimating the Costs of an Uncertain Infrastructure Pipeline’.
Conducted by Infometrics, the report shows that streamlining delivery to a more certain infrastructure pipeline could result in productivity and savings improvements of between 13% – 26.5% on future infrastructure projects.
This could increase the amount spent on infrastructure delivery by between $2.3 billion and $4.7 billion per year over the 2025-31 period, it says.
“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,” Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett says.
“Expert economic analysis shows this could result in billions of dollars of savings and additional infrastructure investment each year.”
“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,” Leggett says.
“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.”
“Right now, uncertainty around the infrastructure pipeline creates confusion for industry, restricts its ability to invest in labour and equipment, and limits the number of potential suppliers for projects. That inefficiency is expensive.
“Providing pipeline certainty will allow New Zealand to reduce our infrastructure deficit much faster, without it costing us more,” Leggett says.
