Transport Minister Sets Road Funding Parameters
May 21st, 2009
In investing an extra billion dollars in the state highway network over the next 3 years, Transport Minister Steven Joyce says completion of major roading works is one of the initiatives the Govt believes will lift productivity, create and protect jobs, and help goods get to market faster. The National Land Transport Fund will provide $10.7bn over 10 years for investment in state highways. Some of the new money will come from increases in fuel taxes from October 1 partially replacing regional fuel taxes.
The NZ Transport Agency is considering the future shape of the transport fund, and how the 7 projects “of national significance” will be funded. Apart from this, the new infrastructure unit housed in the Treasury will look more broadly at funding options. It could broker deals between private sector investors and infrastructure projects. Tower Investments CEO Sam Stubbs has this week proposed Public KiwiSaver Partnerships to allocate pension funds directly into core infrastructure projects, but Govt spokesmen say the allocation of KiwiSaver funds would be down to individual providers. NZ has lacked the funding vehicles to allocate capital into infrastructure projects in the way the UK, for example, has done.
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Duncan Cotterill