Infrastructure New Zealand CEO Nick Leggett says Building Nations is where New Zealand’s infrastructure leaders come together to connect, collaborate and shape the future. Photo / 123rf
New Zealand’s premier infrastructure event, the Building Nations symposium, gets underway in Wellington today, bringing together some of the country’s most influential decision-makers, thinkers and innovators.
The theme for 2025 — A Vision For New Zealand — is centred on creating infrastructure that focuses not just on delivering projects, but on building a shared vision for what New Zealand can be.
The two-day event held at the Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre will challenge decision-makers to look beyond short-term fixes and election cycles and to consider how infrastructure reform can deliver benefits not just for today, but for future generations.
Infrastructure New Zealand CEO Nick Leggett says Building Nations is where New Zealand’s infrastructure leaders come together to connect, collaborate and shape the future.
“It’s about forging the relationships, ideas and directions that will help deliver a stronger, more resilient nation where infrastructure is the building block.”
Close to 1000 delegates are expected, making this one of the largest events in the summit’s near two decades’ history. ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson will give the opening address, followed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis speaking for the Government.
All eyes will be focused on Minister for Infrastructure, Housing, RMA Reform and Transport Chris Bishop who will speak to the Government’s vision for delivering a “resilient, future-ready infrastructure system”. He will share insights on long-term planning, funding priorities, and the critical policy shifts needed to drive delivery and improve outcomes across the country.
The first international keynote speaker, Andrew Tan, will talk to one of New Zealand’s most pressing issues — how to build a bipartisan vision to drive infrastructure investment.
A former Temasek International managing director with a prior three-decades career spanning high-profile roles in Singapore’s senior administrative service, Tan will explore how bipartisan approaches can unlock long-term investment, accelerate delivery and lift national productivity. The keynote address is billed as challenging delegates to think beyond political cycles and focus on the partnerships, policies, and funding strategies that can transform infrastructure outcomes for generations to come.
“As a nation, we have always viewed infrastructure as strategic to the country’s economic growth, prosperity and well-being,” says Tan. “This cuts across the political spectrum.
“There is broad-based recognition that sustained investment in core infrastructure such as roads, ports, airport and public housing have been an essential element of Singapore’s competitive advantage.
“Singaporeans themselves expect no less.”
Bishop and Labour’s Infrastructure spokesperson, Kieran McAnulty, will later take the conference inside the in-depth discussions on cross-party collaboration taking place, which are critical to unlocking long-term infrastructure progress.
On the international front, Tan will be tomorrow by followed by former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland Leo Varadkar, who will take the stage to talk on excellence in delivery and ensuring equitable outcomes. He is billed as bringing a global perspective on how governments can deliver major infrastructure projects that not only meet performance targets but also ensure fairness and equity for communities.
Varadkar served as Taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and from 2022 to 2024. Through the Project Ireland 2040 plan, investment in public infrastructure budget more than doubled during his time as Prime Minister from under €6b a year to more than €12b a year with major investments in transport, rural broadband, energy, climate action, healthcare and education.
Other sessions will include presentations from Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
Infrastructure New Zealand’s Strategy and Engagement Manager Katie Bradford, who is also the summit’s MC, will host a range of panels throughout the two days. Bradford notes the symposium is an opportunity to explore practical, systems-based thinking for sustainable growth.
“Building Nations provides a platform for the industry to engage in and explore how we can do things differently, using our existing infrastructure more effectively and investing in the right assets to achieve a coherent vision for Aotearoa’s infrastructure.”
The 2025 programme also includes focused sessions on Treaty partnership, regional collaboration, and community inclusion.
Panels will examine how the infrastructure sector can work in true partnership with Māori, unlock the potential of local government, and embed diversity and accessibility into infrastructure planning.
Winners of the Building Nations Impact awards will be announced at a gala dinner tonight.
● Programme is at https://buildingnations.ons.org.nz/agenda
Andrew Tan has a message: “Singapore transformed itself from a Third World to First World country by putting in place a first-class infrastructure that enhances our global hub status and connectivity with rest of the world, including our region.”
The city state lacks both natural resources and a natural hinterland. The upshot is the Singaporean Government takes a long-term view towards infrastructure, starting with optimal land use to balance the needs of current versus future generations.
“We have developed long-term concept plans and master plans for the whole island, taking a 30-40 years’ timeframe down to actionable five-year timeframes,” says Tan.
“The beauty is not in the planning but having a process that allows close co-ordination across government departments along with consultations with the private sector and civil society, to the final execution of these plans. This requires trust and confidence in the process, transparency and open communications, especially in land sales/allocation, bidding for projects and their evaluation.”
Andrew Tan was formerly managing director with Temasek International; a global investment firm headquartered in Singapore. He joined as an operating partner in the Enterprise Development Group, and later as managing director of the new Strategy Office.’
Prior to joining Temasek, Tan spent nearly three decades with the Singapore Administrative Service in senior positions across key agencies across defence and foreign affairs, environment and water resources and transport. He also served in the Prime Minister’s Office as the principal private secretary to Senior Minister/Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He later became CEO of the National Environment Agency and founding director of the Centre for Liveable Cities, He was also CEO of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). These days he holds a number or private sector roles.
Tan makes the point the bulk of the funding for basic infrastructure in Singapore comes from the Government’s budget. “Over the decades, the Government has been able to generate surpluses as well as maintain healthy reserves. This allows government agencies responsible for key infrastructure as public housing, transport, schools/universities and hospitals and other social facilities to be upkept,” he explains.
“It has been a central tenet of the Government not to allow any public infrastructure to deteriorate beyond its normal lifespan. It is a reflection of the state of the country and how well it is run. Further, the upgrading of existing infrastructure, such as public housing has led to their values rising over the years for homeowners.”
It has been a central tenet of the Government not to allow any public infrastructure to deteriorate beyond its normal lifespan.
He says in recent years, the Singaporean Government has also undertaken several private-public sector projects on a design-build-own-operate basis (DBOO) as well as leveraged on bonds to finance major infrastructure projects such as transport network and public utilities, eg desalination water plants and waste-to-energy plants.
Notably, as part of Singapore’s climate change and green transition efforts, the public sector will take the lead to issue green bonds of up to S$35 billion of green bonds by 2030. This will serve as a reference for the corporate green bond market, deepen market liquidity as well as attract issuers, capital and investors for green financing.
Tan adds, beyond public infrastructure, through the Government Land Sales (GLS) Programme, land is also sold to the private sector for various development purposes. Rather than simply outright sales of land, the GLS allows the Government to shape the developments in line with its strategic objectives based on various planning parameters and built-in incentives.
“It has been used for urban renewal after our independence, later, positioning Singapore as a tourism hub, and business and financial hub in the 2000s, as well as heritage and conservation needs. This ensures that other than receiving revenues from land sales, land is optimised for the greater well-being of the country.”
Through the Long-Term Planning Review (LTPR) led by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the Singapore Government engages the private sector and civil society to define the key features of how they envision Singapore in the future. In the recent review, for example, four themes emerged from public consultations - a Singapore that is Inclusive; Adaptable and Resilient; Sustainable, and Distinctive & Endearing. This feeds into the overall long-term strategies.
Tan says the URA has also partnered community and business groups to support ground-up ideas for local precincts and neighbourhoods such as for mixed-use developments involving the Singapore River Precinct, Tanjong Pagar, Marina Central and Raffles Place to create more buzz and vibrancy.
“That said, private developers are always keen to provide inputs to the plans and the Government is equally open to new ideas while balancing the greater needs of society and reconciling short versus long-term gains. It is an ongoing, open-ended dialogue with all stakeholders. The enhancements to the Government Land Sales Programme is one such example of continuous feedback and improvement.”