Nick Leggett, Infrastructure NZ chief executive. Photo / Supplied
The country’s much-needed transport and other projects must be depoliticised and advanced with greater regional cooperation, says Infrastructure New Zealand’s new chief executive, Nick Leggett.
The sector needs greater certainty, and infrastructure planning and development must go beyond the three-year political cycle and ideology. It must focus on what is best for the country over many decades.
“We need consistency amongst the political parties, creating discipline and commitment to develop a clear long-term pipeline of where infrastructure is going to be built,” says Leggett.
“That’s part of the reason we are in a mess and facing challenges. We have politicised transport infrastructure and we have stopped being a nation of doers.
“The centre-left wants public transport and the centre-right roads, but what we need is investment in all modes of transport. We’ve got to have broad political agreement,” says Leggett.
“We are also too caught up in red tape - I hope the RMA reform will change that - and we are not getting a good bang from our buck.”
Leggett says a pipeline of essential work should be guaranteed outside of election cycles and Budgets, with funding locked in. That way, the sector can prepare a workforce and have the kind of skills on hand to make these builds a reality.
“New Zealand has fallen to the bottom 10 per cent of the OECD in getting value and quality out of its infrastructure spend.
“The climate change challenges are a reminder that we need to get better and invest more money into resilient infrastructure,” Leggett says.
“We still have a small nation mindset but we need to adopt a kick-ass attitude, and not think about today or tomorrow but decades ahead — 30, 50 and 100 years.”
Leggett is pushing for stronger regional co-operation in terms of spatial planning and infrastructure investment.
“We need to think and plan with our neighbours about how we grow and what the needs are. You can’t divorce regional from local — they have so much in common and by combining resources and laying out an infrastructure plan, we can get things moving.
“Some local councils can’t do that on their own, and regional in partnership with the government can look at infrastructure investment in a far more effective and efficient way. Local councils can refocus on community wellbeing,” he says.
Leggett cites the Let’s Get Wellington Moving Transport initiative as an example of momentum lost.
“We have a three-headed monster — Wellington City Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and Waka Kotahi (NZ Transport Agency) — involved with the plan.
“Over the past four or five years, $120 million has been spent and just one project completed — a crossing for pedestrians and cyclists on Cobham Drive at Kilbirnie, part of State Highway 1.
“At the moment you see pursuit of a model that has failed to deliver and the public has lost faith in getting Wellington moving, with the government persisting with ongoing support.
“You have three public entities falling over each other and competing — whether it be for faster buses or light rail. This costs us money in delays and disputes and it’s the commuters who suffer, not the officials.”
Leggett believes one regional development entity should be operating the Let’s Get Wellington Moving initiative, with a mandate to engage with the community, and local and government support.
“Fragmentation — that’s what holds up infrastructure development and stops us looking at the big picture.
“We see a separation of planning and funding. We need to push them together and power up regional co-operation.”
Leggett, who joined Infrastructure NZ in late April, has plenty of experience unravelling the complexities of infrastructure development and pulling together the threads between local, regional, central governments and communities.
“I continue to be fascinated by the way different organisations, people and communities make decisions,” he says.
After working as a commercial property broker for Colliers International in Wellington, Leggett moved into the political arena when he was elected Mayor of Porirua City in 2010 and served two terms. He was the chief executive of Ia Ara Aotearoa Transporting New Zealand (formerly NZ Road Transport Forum) from December 2018 to April this year.
The national industry association represents 1200 road freight companies with a combined fleet of 14,000 vehicles.
Leggett is a director of Wellington Water, Greater Wellington Regional Holdings, Port Investments and chairperson of the Hutt Mana Charitable Trust. He also served on the Capital and Coast District Health Board.
He says there has been a growing realisation that New Zealand has not focused enough on the standard, scale and specification of its infrastructure over many decades.
“These decades of under-investment have left us with an infrastructure deficit of $210 billion.
“Great infrastructure is the basis of everything we value in our society; opportunities for people now and in the future; social and economic cohesion and environmental sustainability.
“Great infrastructure is the means to the very important end of New Zealanders living productive and stimulating lives and recognising their full potential, so our country is a world-class place to call home.”
Leggett says infrastructure development has been too reliant on the government funding it.
“We have been allergic to private capital investment.
“We need to find a way to get private equity to contribute to infrastructure, creating better efficiency and discipline and getting things built faster.
“We have to provide the right environment to attract alternative funding and that’s a long-term pipeline with environmental and regulatory approval and an appropriate mix of public and private sector debt.”
Reacting to the Budget, Leggett welcomed the $6b National Resilience Plan, which focuses on building back better from the recent weather events.
“Stronger, more resilient infrastructure investment is key.
“Addressing vulnerabilities in our roading networks is critical and the $279m investment package for State Highways that will focus on slip prevention, flood mitigation and managing sea level rise risk is an excellent start.”
Waka Kotahi will be able to action its State Highway Resilience Plan which was developed in 2020.
However, Infrastructure NZ is concerned that the Budget is yet another announcement of ‘big money’, without a plan or practical understanding of how to get things built.
Leggett says: “With some exceptions, this Budget doesn’t solve the immediate and long-term challenges facing New Zealand’s poor public infrastructure. You can only hit the ball out to the future with big dollar promises for so long before people start feeling the reality of decades of under-investment with a shallow funding pool and a workforce shortage.
“New Zealand continues to miss opportunities in its infrastructure delivery, efficiency and scale by solely relying on the government to fund improvements to our roads, public transport, resilience and water infrastructure.”
He says there are more plans and more apparent pots of money, but the funding pool remains the same and the only source is from the back pocket of the taxpayer.
New Zealand badly needs to access private capital to inject into a sustainable building plan.
Leggett is encouraged by co-funding from private sector to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure. But projects like a second Auckland harbour crossing and Let’s Get Wellington Moving require capital that the government just doesn’t have.
“Further focus on private financing of infrastructure would build New Zealand better, and faster.
“As a country, New Zealand doesn’t lack for promises, plans or ambition. However, it often lacks action in getting infrastructure projects built. Budget 2023 doesn’t deal with that problem,” Leggett says.
“We continue to call on all political parties to think long term about infrastructure decision-making and steer away from politicking around projects and investments.”
Act MP Simon Court is looking at how the PPP framework can be improved.