Shovel-ready projects to be unveiled 'within weeks' - finance minister
Monday, 18 May 2020
A list of major infrastructure projects receiving fast-track funding from the Government to kick-start the country’s economy will be announced “within weeks”.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Canterbury business leaders on Monday that projects would be unveiled in waves and work would begin as soon as possible.
But there would be “capacity constraints” because of a downturn in migrant labour that New Zealand relies on for such work because of coronavirus travel restrictions.
Some projects might also need Kiwis to be trained up to work on them — a hint that there could be a potential delay until that can happen.
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Robertson also suggested New Zealand could become a hub for education and attract international students as early as next year given the success in tackling coronavirus.
And he extended a reassurance to Canterbury’s beleaguered tourism sector, assuring operators that the $400 million package announced last week was just the start of the help.
Speaking to business leaders in an online seminar arranged by the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce, Robertson said the Government received about 1800 submissions for infrastructure projects across the country, which are expected to create thousands of jobs and get cash flowing.
He warned not all would get the handout to help them go ahead, but suggested water infrastructure would benefit — which was among the Christchurch City’s Council’s bids.
Authorities in Canterbury submitted a billion-dollar wish list in April including cash for Christchurch’s stadium, roading projects and flood protection along the Avon River corridor.
“We do want to spread the benefits of [this] around New Zealand,” Robertson said.
“It would be easy for us to find a set of projects in one place in the country, but we do want to make sure that we are solving issues and problems and creating opportunities in different regions of New Zealand.”
The list will be submitted to Cabinet by an infrastructure industry reference group by Friday and “within weeks” there will be an announcement on which will go ahead.
But carrying out the projects has required a rethink on how the work is actually done.
“We’ve become quite reliant on migrant labour for some of these sorts of projects,” the minister said.
“That’s not really available at the moment in the way that it was, so we do have to make sure we’ll be bringing these projects on force both with the New Zealanders we’ll be training up and with some imported labour as well.”
Robertson said tourism and international education, two of the largest parts of the country’s services sector, were under “real strain”, but potential opportunities regarding international education could arise next year.
“If we continue to do as well as we have when it comes to stamping out the virus we will become a destination that people will want to come to, and so we have to work out a plan,” he said.
“We are working alongside the international education providers to develop that, what it looks like, how to manage potential quarantine arrangements and so forth.
“So there is some light there at the end of the tunnel but I recognise that within the services sector this is going to be a very challenging period.”
This year's Budget included a targeted plan to help the tourist sector including a $400m contribution to help businesses refocus to a domestic market, opportunities to go into “hibernation” via changes to insolvency law, and plans to help protect assets.
“I want to make clear that we see that as our initial contribution,” Robertson said.
“The plan is only just getting going, and we want to keep working with the sector on how it develops.”