Infrastructure Commission to take over monitoring multibillion-dollar projects from Treasury

Wednesday, 22 April 2026

Ministers will today unveil sweeping plans for the independent Infrastructure Commission to take over assessing and monitoring Government infrastructure projects from Treasury, aimed at giving ministers better oversight of projects before they commit billions of dollars to them.

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop believes this will stop the Government wasting money on “gold-plated palace projects”.

The Infrastructure Commission is an independent agency, created by the last Government, which was recently responsible for coming up with the country’s national infrastructure plan - released in February.

This is the first concrete response to that 30-year plan from the Government.

It is understood by The Post announcements are set to be made to transfer responsibility of managing multi-billion dollar projects from Treasury to the body.

This will include any NZTA projects funded outside of the National Land Transport Fund.

By doing this the Government aims to get better information about the status of projects and to stop poorly managed or costed ones from getting momentum and to a point where they can’t be stopped -- costing taxpayers.

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Notable examples of government projects that had blown out in recent years were the new Dunedin Hospital, the City Rail Link and the IReX mega Cook Strait ferry project.

Bishop will tell the Infrastructure Conference that he has been concerned about how little information ministers get about multi-billion dollar investment decisions before making them.

“Everyone experiences the flow-on effects of our underperforming system including bad value for taxpayer money; funding gaps; over-scoped, gold-plated, palace projects; delays; cost overruns, and – often – worn-down and failing assets that don’t do their job. I can rattle off too many examples of asset failures like leaky police stations, mouldy military homes, rotting classrooms, and in 2018, a hospital with raw sewage seeping into the asbestos-filled walls,” Bishop said in speech notes seen by The Post.

Currently both the commission and Treasury undertake analysis of projects which ministers believed was causing duplication and over-complication for those in charge and agencies.

Other changes set to be announced include a standardised two-page “Fitness Assessment” for major investment decisions, new assurance planning for capital intensive government agencies such as Health, Corrections, and Education, and greater ministerial oversight of high-risk projects before they get to cabinet for decisions.

At the time Bishop said the Government spent a lot on projects but did not get a lot in return.

“Many central government agencies do not properly understand what they own or have long-term investment plans. The assurance system for new projects and long-term investments is fragmented and inconsistent.”

Labour’s infrastructure spokesperson Kieran McAnulty told The Post his party had been calling for the changes and was pleased the Government was making them.

“It’ll help prevent governments over-promising with no plan to pay for projects - such as the roads of national significance - and governments cancelling things for political reasons - such as the ferries.”