Minister responds to calls to get work to market
Minister for Infrastructure Chris Bishop has responded to our calls for urgent changes to the infrastructure pipeline, following our meeting with him last month.
We were pleased to see the minister clearly understood the seriousness of the lack of work in the infrastructure sector and the impact this is having on our workforce.
In response, he has asked the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi to consider how to bring packages of projects to the market quicker.
He will also raise the issues we outlined with his ministerial colleagues, and encourage councils to prioritise spending on renewals and maintenance.
He said officials were being asked to provide advice on how the Government could better measure actual and forecast project spend against the pipeline, which we advocated for. Actively measuring project spend against the infrastructure pipeline will support better understanding of the flow of money into the sector.
We welcome the actions the minister outlined in his response to us, along with the Government’s future work programme investing in infrastructure. However, we know that change is needed now to retain the skills we need for the future. We will continue to urge the Government to move quickly to get infrastructure works started and funding flowing.
We will continue to drive the change we need to see in this space. This includes providing the Government with insights from our members about their experiences on the ground (you can read the latest ACE New Zealand How's Business? report here). We will keep you updated.