KEY POINTS:
New infrastructure minister Bill nglish has laid down the challenge to business to come up with ideas to become involved in a construction spendup one estimate puts at $70 billion over the next decade.
English says the Government is urgently bringing forward projects, such as housing and roading, but wants the private sector to come forward with its own plans.
"People who want to participate need to get their thoughts and views together because we will be moving along fairly quickly."
The infrastructure sector has urged the Government to draw up a programme to give certainty to financiers and contractors.
English said yesterday he would begin setting up a small, expert infrastructure unit in the leadup to Christmas.
The Government would then consult with interested groups on what a 10-to-15-year infrastructure plan would look like.
"We will move pretty briskly through that because getting on and doing it is far more important than ironing out the last few details of the plan that might please everybody," he said.
Before the election, the National Party pledged to spend $8.5 billion on new capital projects over and above the infrastructure already budgeted for by the previous Government.
Around $500 million of spending on schools, spending on public housing and some smaller roading projects will be from money the Government already has.
Beyond that, English said he was open to input from the private sector but this did not mean public-private partnerships were the only way.
"They're part of the plan but they're not the central part of the plan. We're going to be inviting the private sector to participate with any tool that's going to help the Government manage the risks better and get the job done sooner.
"People who aren't involved in PPPs or for whom it's too complex or expensive to get involved should start looking at how they can bundle projects or take on risk or specialise in projects that are smaller."
The Government was also considering infrastructure bonds to fund some work.
There is a range of opinion within the infrastructure sector about international appetite for buying into New Zealand, especially given some fragility within the Australian investment community.
English is cautious.
"There's so much uncertainty in the market that you couldn't be sure even if people said it today they'd be able to do it tomorrow. We are going to listen to the market about what is attractive to them but the financial market turmoil is going to go for some time and I wouldn't want to predict how people are going to behave."
He said the Government could get on with its job of promoting opportunities and amending laws such as the Resource Management Act to ensure the decision-making process was shorter and cheaper.
"We're not reliant on the market for financing - we've given ourselves the room to do it with government debt if we can't do it directly with the market.
"The work more orientated to the financial market is going to take longer but the immediate priority for the Government is to get this infrastructure spending up and going with the tools we already have."
Before the election, Prime Minister John Key said he would like 40 per cent of the NZ Superannuation fund to be invested in New Zealand assets, including bonds for large infrastructure projects. It currently has about 23 per cent invested here.
Infratil executive Tim Brown said Australian investment banks he visited recently had only a moderate understanding of the surge of enthusiasm for large-scale projects here.
"I think there's quite an urgent need to front up and be very explicit. The issue is whether the public sector will keep on digging the hole or help fill it in," he said.
SPENDING BACKLOG
* Roads and transport: 15 billion.
* Water and waste water: $21 billion.
