The package will fund projects in addition to the Government’s $12 billion Upgrade Programme and the Provincial Growth Fund. They include investment in shovel-ready water, transport, clean energy and buildings that offer a public or regional benefit and create jobs.
“That’s why we are now developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects from across the country that would be ready to begin as soon as we are able to move around freely and go back to work,” Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford said.
Industry leaders led by Mark Binns will consider applications from the private and public sectors for jobs that are shovel ready now or likely to be within six months.
The Government will then decide which will be funded.
Southland Mayor Gary Tong says his council wants to upgrade roads and bridges, some of which have deteriorated to the point they have weight restrictions and can’t cope with 50-tonne truck and trailer units.
At 5000km the council has the second largest roading network in the country, behind Auckland.
It has 1100 bridges and underpasses and Tong says 80 of them need urgent attention and another 200 will need work in the next 10 years.
“Many of those bridges were built to handle a Bedford truck carrying two bales of wool.”
Tong said the district’s farmers need the investment to ensure they function efficiently, more so given their economic importance.
“The primary industry are our heroes. They’re out there doing it but they still require support from the towns, from plumbers, engineers and mechanics and they will keep a lot of businesses afloat.”
Tararua Mayor Tracey Collis says her council has put forward 11 projects but its priority is $33m of work required on Route 52, a 100km stretch of road heavily used by stock and logging trucks between Central Hawke’s Bay and Dannevirke.
It is also seeking $1m for a walkway between Woodville and Lindauer to link with the new Manawatu-Tararua highway and $700,000 for native planting to beautify road reserves and stop run-off into stormwater drains.
Federated Farmers president Katie Milne is calling for investment in rural broadband but also regional tourism.
The collapse of international tourism and the likelihood New Zealanders will holiday domestically in the near future provide an opportunity for investment in cycleways and other infrastructure that will generate business for regional hospitality providers.
“Given people are falling in love again with cycling and the outdoors, those are highly likely to generate domestic tourism and will lead to greater demand for beds.”
The Strath Taieri Irrigation Company in Otago is seeking $10m to $15m to increase by 10 million cubic metres the volume of water stored in the Loganburn Reservoir by raising the dam.
That will enhance summer flows of the Taieri River, enhancing river ecology and making water available for irrigation.
Massey University is promoting the $165m second stage rebuild of its School of Veterinary Science.
It includes a new production animal hospital, a clinical teaching laboratories complex, post-mortem facility and multipurpose teaching and research laboratory complex.
They were due to be completed by 2025 but have been affected by covd-19, weterinary science school head Professor Jon Huxley said.
“Given the next phases are shovel ready Massey has requested assistance from the Government to support and accelerate the build programme so its completion is not delayed.”
