National to create infrastructure agency, increase public-private partnerships

National infrastructure spokesman Chris Bishop wants to set up a new agency to deliver infrastructure projects, if elected. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The National Party will create a national infrastructure agency to engage domestic and offshore investors, and also set out a 30-year infrastructure plan across all sectors if elected.

The new agency will be directed to co-ordinate central Government infrastructure funding, and improve the funding and delivery of infrastructure, says National’s infrastructure spokesman Chris Bishop.

National’s policy document said the agency would be formed by “expanding the mandate and powers” of the existing agency, Crown Infrastructure Partners.

A central aim of the agency would be to follow advice from the Infrastructure Commission’s New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy, which said fewer infrastructure-related capital funds “would result in better prioritisation and coordination of programmes at a national level”.

It would provide opportunities for investors including ACC, the NZ Super Fund and KiwiSaver funds to invest in long-term infrastructure assets.

The agency would be tasked with exploring public-private partnerships - agreements between the Government and the private sector - as a way to deliver new infrastructure projects.

Bishop said a new consenting framework for infrastructure investment would be developed to fix extensive delays and cost pressures within the consenting process.

According to the Infrastructure Commission, there had been a 150 per cent increase in the time it took to get a consent over a five-year period. The cost of consenting as a proportion of a project’s overall budget had also increased by 70 per cent over the last seven years.

The party’s two key changes to consenting would be to introduce a “fast-track process modelled on the Covid fast-track process for quick processing of resource consents”, the document said.

It would also establish a class of projects known as Major Infrastructure Priorities which would require decisions within a year.

An infrastructure plan for the next 30 years would also be developed for all sectors and broken down by city and region.

“We will establish national, city and regional ‘Deals’. These agreements will be long-term programmes of investment between regions and central government, spanning transport, rail, housing and other investments,” Bishop said.