The $12 billion announcement only amounted to $8 billion. Photo / File
The $12 billion announcement only amounted to $8 billion. Photo / File
KEY POINTS:
• $6.8b for transport projects in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Canterbury, Queenstown • $1.1b for rail, including more than $900m for projects in Auckland • $2.2b for new roads in Auckland, including Penlink, widening SH1 from Papakura to Drury, Mill Rd four-lane highway • Auckland Harbour Bridge 'Skypath' forpedestrians and cyclists confirmed
The Government today unveiled the impressive package of infrastructure projects that New Zealand needed 10 years ago.
No one was expecting a new Auckland harbour crossing or even a four-lane highway to Whangarei, so no one was disappointed.
Regardless, the timing for these projects now is good, injecting fiscal stimulus over the next five to eight years at a time when growth is relatively low, debt is cheap and the world's leading economists see increased Government spending as critical.
But it will be five to eight years before most of these roading upgrades and rail improvements are in use.
And that's if construction all goes to plan.
It's one thing to have the political will, it's another thing to find the money.
The Government should be commended for getting this far. But delivery is another issue altogether.
Managing the construction process in an economy which quickly bumps up against capacity constraints will not be easy.
Perhaps the most controversial aspect of today's $12 billion announcement is that it is only an $8 billion announcement.
Journalists aren't famously great at maths but the $4 billion difference between the figure in the headlines and what Government has delivered today is hard to miss.
Admittedly that's as billed in the December announcement, but it means there were no big surprises in today's announcement despite the grand scale of the total package.
It also means that on top of an impressive package of new roading, and rail projects, Finance Minister Grant Robertson heads into his election-year Budget with an extra $4 billion up his sleeve.
Coming a day after the announcement of the election date this is either shrewd or cynical, depending on your political leaning.
The specific projects themselves all look inarguably sensible.
Roads at crunch points in the Auckland network, busy regional links around the country, and improved rail services with a nod to reducing long term reliance on road transport.
Business groups and infrastructure lobby groups have said they want to see evidence of big picture, joined-up thinking about New Zealand's long term infrastructure needs.
What they feared was a lolly scramble, a grab bag of coalition friendly projects to meet political ends.
Given the inevitable constraints of coalition politics, this looks like a triumph.
Intial reaction was positive.
All three coalition parties appear to be on the same page with this in a way that hasn't always been the case.
Less amicable policy calls like the Capital Gains Tax spring to mind.
National, as you'd expect, will claim they'd have been building sooner and bigger - and probably with more focus on cars and trucks.
It is impossible to avoid the question of why we had to wait two years for the announcement of some of these projects.
The Government makes the point that it has been doing plenty in the transport space and capital spending is already much higher under the coalition than the previous Government.
Whatever the politics of it all though, today's announcement represents progress.
It's overdue. But the intent at least is here at last.
Building infrastructure thrives on momentum. Let's hope this is the beginning of a more expansive, more ambitious phase in New Zealand's infrastructure investment.
One that reflects a more confident, and ultimately a more productive, nation.
