National infrastructure plan welcomed

The industry has welcomed the Government’s 30-year infrastructure plan. The long-term strategy emphasises maintenance and nonpartisan thinking as it anticipates the real challenges ahead.

The report focuses on the key challenges for the nation’s roads and transport, hospitals, schools, water and power systems. 

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop says New Zealand’s infrastructure spending isn’t reflected in its efficiency. New Zealand invests over $20 million in infrastructure annually.

“We spend a lot on infrastructure – around 5.8% of GDP annually over the last 20 years, one of the highest in the OECD – yet we rank towards the bottom for efficiency, and fourth to last in the OECD for asset management.

“Infrastructure lasts for generations. Where we can build durable consensus, we should,” the Minister says. “Now it is up to all of us to do the hard work required to turn ambition into delivery.”

“We can’t keep doing what we’ve always done,” NZ Infrastructure Commission chief executive Geoff Cooper says. “Each year, we invest just over $20 billion on infrastructure, yet on a dollar-for-dollar basis, we achieve less than many of our more efficient international peers.

“While the Plan looks at the long term, it’s clear that we need to take action now. Weather events and infrastructure failures make very clear the importance of investing to renew and build resilience into the networks that sustain our way of life.”

Building with resilience 

Infrastructure NZ chief executive Nick Leggett welcomes the plan and hopes the nation can solve this central issue. “We probably spend enough. But we do not consistently get the return we should. Improving productivity in infrastructure delivery is the challenge we must now solve.

“There is an implicit sense in this plan that New Zealand must limit its aspirations because we are a small or relatively poor country. That mindset risks becoming self-fulfilling.”

Leggett says the nation must focus on building resilient infrastructure to respond to natural hazard events. He says investment in climate adaptation is not discretionary but economically rational risk management. Central government has spent at least $33 billion on this between 2010 and 2025. 

“Infrastructure is not simply a cost,” he says. “It is an investment in prosperity, productivity and resilience. Over time, well-planned infrastructure enables higher incomes through growth, stronger public finances and better living standards.

“A 30-year infrastructure plan cannot sit in isolation. It must connect to a coherent view of population growth, productivity, regional development, housing, climate adaptation and energy transition,” Leggett says.

The 30 years ahead

Of course, this review must now be achieved. Ensuring the plan’s delivery remains a concern for the industry. 

“A plan by itself won’t change anything. The National Infrastructure Plan charts the course, but progress depends on how decision-makers, delivery agencies, industry, and communities use the Plan to do things differently,” Cooper says.

Civil Contractors NZ chief executive Alan Pollard welcomes the plan apprehensively. “Too often, projects remain on paper or are delayed by regulatory and funding uncertainty, hampering both the industry and community outcomes.

“Construction businesses need confidence that projects listed in the pipeline will be funded, consented, and delivered as planned. Otherwise, we risk perpetuating the ‘boom and bust’ cycle that undermines investment in skills, innovation, and regional capacity,” he said.

Pollard says the plan echoes many of the concerns and solutions put forward by the civil contracting sector, namely “the need for true pipeline certainty, practical consenting, and robust, durable funding mechanisms”. 

The road ahead

Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Dom Kalasih says the plan takes a well-reasoned long-term view of the nation’s infrastructure and funding needs, including the road and rail networks. 

Three key pillars to the plan are maintaining existing assets, the need for road revenue reform, and ensuring party politics don’t disrupt infrastructure progress. Kalasih supports them all. 

“Transporting New Zealand is a strong advocate of these three pillars, and we’re looking forward to seeing the Government’s formal response to the plan later this year. We encourage all opposition parties to do the same.”

Kalasih says recent severe weather and travel disruptions have shown just how much asset maintenance and renewals matter. 

“A strong message we hear from our road freight members is the importance of maintaining the existing road network. That has been historically underfunded by successive governments.”

Āpōpō is the lead association for New Zealand’s infrastructure asset management professionals. Its chief executive, Murray Pugh, agrees that New Zealand must shift towards a practical, whole-of-life focus. 

“Asset management principles are deeply embedded throughout the Plan – from levels of service to long-term planning, prioritisation, risk management and investment discipline.”

Pugh says the plan’s direction is grounded in core asset management principles such as maintaining existing assets, understanding their condition and performance, planning long-term in line with fiscal strategy, ensuring transparency, and integrating resilience into lifecycle planning. 

It also emphasises better sequencing and prioritisation, requiring that Budget-funded projects align with credible, scenario-based plans and robust business cases.

“We are ready to help Aotearoa get on with it,” Pugh adds. “Āpōpō stands alongside professionals to lift capability, build maturity and support delivery aligned with best practice standards. 

“With the right information, competent practitioners and predictable funding, New Zealand can turn this Plan into better, more resilient services for generations to come.”

What are the main priorities?

The National Infrastructure Plan has 16 recommendations and ten priorities. These are to lift hospital investment to support an ageing population through a long-term health infrastructure plan, complete catch-up on water renewals under the Local Water Done Well reforms, implement time-of-use and electronic road user charges, and prioritise and sequence major land transport projects.

There’s also a focus on asset management and maintenance, funding cost-effective flood resilience infrastructure through the Regional Infrastructure Fund, delivering a durable replacement for the Resource Management Act with a focus on spatial planning, enabling transport-oriented housing around key corridors, and ensuring stable, predictable policy settings to drive electrification and energy investment.

“The Plan is ambitious, but centred on affordability,” Cooper says. “The Plan also provides decision-makers with a clear, system-wide picture of where pressures are emerging and where investment will deliver the greatest value.

“Some of the infrastructure issues we’re facing have been decades in the making – and they’ll take time to fix,” he says. “But New Zealand also faces acute pressures that require attention now.”

Cooper says that addressing the priority areas identified in the Plan will mean visible infrastructure gains and support the longer-term recommendations for the next 30 years.

“The Plan does this by charting an affordable way to meet a diverse set of infrastructure demands over time and identifying how a large programme of significant investments, such as roads, rapid transit, and hospitals, can be prioritised and sequenced. 

“In doing so, the Plan demonstrates a fundable and affordable programme of works that futureproofs existing services, while incrementally building on the network as the country grows and develops,” Cooper says.