Civic contractors call for more detail on Government Infrastructure spend

The Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway is set to open early next year, with just the Hamilton section left to complete in 2021, with no further projects on the horizon. Photo / NZTA

The Government's recent announcement to spend an extra $12 billion on infrastructure has been met with cautious optimism by the civil contractors association, with more details been called for.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced last week that the Government would borrow an extra $19 billion, and said $12 billion would be spent on schools, healthcare, along with a large bulk of spending going on rail and roading, with $8 billion for specific "shovel ready" projects, with a further $4 billion on hand for future spending.

However, no specific projects were announced, instead Mr Robertson said they would be announced in early to mid-2020.

Civil Contractors New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock said Mr Robertson's announcement of additional infrastructure spending with the emphasis on "shovel-ready" projects was welcome, but details on which projects were funded and when they would come to market were needed as soon as possible.

"This is great news, and shows the Government is listening. But if these projects are truly shovel-ready, contractors need details sooner rather than later.

"Ideally we want to transition the people and resources we already have into new transport projects," Mr Silcock said.

"The longer it took for project details to be announced, the more likely there were to be capacity constraints as a range of major projects such as Transmission Gully, Canterbury motorway projects and the Waikato Expressway finished up over the next 18 months and businesses looked to provide continuity of work for their skilled employees," he said.

"A year may seem like a long time, but in terms of making major infrastructure projects happen it is not long at all. The time for stalling is over and our members need to know which projects will be given the nod so they can start planning how they will put them into action."

Mr Silcock said contractors were eager to get to work, and keenly anticipating which initiatives were identified to be brought to market so they could make promises of infrastructure investment into new roads, bridges and railway lines to connect communities and support economic growth.

National MP For Hamilton East David Bennett said on his public Facebook page that the Waikato should expect a fair share of the funding.

"Well let's see what we get for the Waikato, at 10 per cent of New Zealand's population we should receive at least $680 million of the $6.8b transport spend and that would equate to the $450m Cambridge-Piarere extension of the Waikato Expressway plus a significant proportion of the $650m Southern Links project."