Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says New Zealand needs to “rethink” how roading infrastructure is funded.
In answer to a question from a Western Bay of Plenty economic leader at a Tauranga Business Chamber luncheon yesterday, Hipkins said it was “no secret” the roading environment was a “challenging” one for investment.
“We’re going to have to rethink as a country how we fund that,” Hipkins said.
“The fastest way to increase investment in roading would be to increase petrol taxes much faster than we are at the moment.
“With international petrol prices being at the level that they’re at, I’m not sure that that’s the sustainable way of doing it.”
“We might not be building the houses, but we can make sure that the infrastructure for houses to be built is there.”
Hipkins said Tauranga’s infrastructure was “just overcrowded” and the city’s “vulnerable infrastructure” was growing as well.
Due to a number of factors, Hipkins said he imagined Tauranga would be one of the places that would benefit from the Government’s $6 billion National Resilience Plan to support medium and long-term infrastructure investment.
“We’ve got to build more resilience into that, and that means this area will need more investment.
“I can’t say I’m going to build this road here at this particular time, but I can tell you we’re very, very aware of the infrastructure pressure that there is here.”
Hipkins told the Bay of Plenty Times after the event the Government wanted to continue “good strong” support for regional economies to boom.
“I think regional economies have done really well out of that,” Hipkins said.
“We’ve seen investment in critical infrastructure, in social infrastructure and in business development opportunities. We want to keep that momentum going.”
When asked what his priorities for the Bay of Plenty would be, Hipkins said critical infrastructure was clearly what most of Tauranga was asking about.
Hipkins said infrastructure covered housing, school, healthcare, transport, telecommunications and utilities such as electricity.
“[It’s about] working with industry to make sure the vital infrastructure is in place to support a region that has absolutely exploded in terms of its population.”
Hipkins arrived at the luncheon at the Trinity Wharf hotel at 12pm after visiting a Pāpāmoa family having insulation installed, as part of the Warmer Homes initiative, and an electrical training company in Tauriko.