Infrastructure NZ wants projects in the pipeline for Budget 2025

Wednesday, 30 April 2025

Infrastructure New Zealand wants major projects in the pipeline for Budget 2025 to help the sector survive as it waits for the economy to turn the corner.

“New Zealanders are wanting to feel as though things are going to start moving again, in that the forward pipeline’s strong,” said Nick Leggett, chief executive of the sector group.

Leggett said while there would not be much money spent at the Budget, and the Government planned to draw in private capital for key infrastructure projects, there was a need for “stimulus” to sustain the industry “for when the tap is properly turned on”.

“I'd like to see a bit of focus on tourism infrastructure, and to see some major projects moving closer to getting a shovel in the ground,” he said.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis on Tuesday announced the Government planned less new spending than previously forecast at the coming May Budget, slashing the operating allowance from a prior $2.4 billion to $1.3b.

Already, the Government has signalled that health, defence, modest cost-of-living support, and growth-based economic incentives will be in the mix this Budget.

Building the country out of a widely-acknowledged infrastructure deficit has been a priority for the Government - but instead of funding directly through the public purse, the focus has been on attracting private capital and using tools such as road tolling.

Leggett said the infrastructure industry was “hurting” and his organisation’s members needed to know there was a pipeline of work, large and small, coming.

“Some businesses are washing their face. Others … we’ve seen a lot of redundancies. The problem with that is that people go offshore, skills go into other industries.

“When the tap comes on again, it costs us.”

He said the Government had very quickly taken steps to shift the country’s infrastructure system - with a 30-year infrastructure plan, regional deals, congestion charging and more tolling, and land value capture taxes in the works - but “we’ve got to get some runs on the board”.

While the Government’s Roads of National Significance were moving forward, and the infrastructure needed for the Cook Strait ferries would be good, he said more projects were needed to help regional New Zealand.

“What happens with the second harbour crossing? … Over the medium-term, a big public transport project is going to be needed in Auckland.”

Key would be putting into practice the promised funding and financing arrangements, such as a value capture tax.

This complex funding tool, which Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop is currently developing, would fund infrastructure by charging the beneficiaries of construction, such as land owners who benefit from roads and water infrastructure which open up new housing developments.

Leggett said all such funding and financing tools on the table were supported by his organisation. He wanted the Government to also consider asset recycling - the partial sale of public infrastructure to fund further construction.

While Bishop will publish a 30-year infrastructure plan by the end of the year, there was a government infrastructure delivery agency, and the Infrastructure Commission had been publishing a “pipeline”, Leggett said missing from the picture was a national “vision” that would provide successive governments a roadmap to deliver infrastructure.

“What will we be in say, 2050, right? … What's the population size we want? Are we prepared as a nation to invest in Auckland being a true international city?

“What are we trying to become? What does success look like? Where are we going to focus and provide a consistency for politicians?

“We've let politicians create false battles over roads versus public transport or whatever it might be, because we haven't had an idea about what we need to invest in and the kind of outcomes we want as a country, the kind of results we need.”

Infrastructure NZ intended to start a national conversation about this, he said.