Introduction

1. Recognising that commitment to particular patterns of infrastructure development is a key signal to private investment, the government has decided to develop a National Infrastructure Plan. The Plan is intended to present a high-level view of the state of New Zealand’s public infrastructure and to describe the principles and direction for future investment. The Plan will be reviewed and updated. It is intended that the quality, and in particular the specificity, of forward planning will improve in subsequent Plans.

2. The Plan is part of a series of initiatives aimed at improving New Zealand’s infrastructure. Others are:

• A step change in the level of public sector investment;
• An improvement in capital asset management processes for government infrastructure; and
• Legislative changes and regulatory reform to facilitate local government and private sector infrastructure investment.

Introduction to this document

3. This document is not the National Infrastructure Plan or even a draft Plan. It is however, a precursor to the Plan. The purpose of this document is to provide background and context for stakeholder engagement on the content and direction of the first Plan. It is being distributed now to facilitate that engagement.

4. To that end this document contains the following content:

• A description of the intended purpose and coverage of the National Infrastructure Plan (next section).
• A ‘Strategic Direction' chapter that identifies the government's immediate investment priorities and the areas of active policy development (‘medium-term priorities'). This chapter also identifies two examples of longer term priorities that may be incorporated into the first Plan.
• A ‘Policy Context' chapter that suggests a set of principles that could aide infrastructure development and decision-making.
• A chapter considering existing infrastructure in the various sectors: transport; energy; water; telecommunications; primary and secondary education; health; and corrections. This chapter describes the current environment for each sector - background and history, assets, institutional arrangements, funding and pricing, and planning; and provides a brief analysis of the sector (or key issues in the sector).
• A chapter describing the planned investment in each sector. This is based on existing government commitments and sector plans, and publicly available information on local government and private investment plans.
• A chapter considering a number of cross-sectoral issues that are important for New Zealand's infrastructure landscape. These include: regulatory issues; funding infrastructure and the government's fiscal constraint; financing infrastructure and the potential role of PPPs; and local government finances. This chapter also considers some of the underlying trends and assumptions that will inform the first Plan.
• The final chapter considers the link between infrastructure and growth and asks what additional infrastructure New Zealand would need to achieve or support more ambitious economic growth and quality of life.

5. We are seeking feedback on the chapters referred to above and in particular on the following questions:

1. Base information: Is the sectoral analysis contained here an accurate and informative description of the sector? If not, what changes are required to make it so?
2. Missing issues: Are there important infrastructure issues not mentioned in this document?
3. Decision-making: This document suggests that for projects to contribute to community/national welfare and economic growth, they must have expected benefits (measured comprehensively) that are greater than their estimated costs (also measured comprehensively) - see the decision-making principles in the ‘Policy Context' chapter. As well as considering distributional or equity considerations, are there other considerations that should be taken into account and if so, what is the case for that?
4. Cross-sectoral issues: What cross-sectoral issues are faced by operators/users of infrastructure in each sector? This document identifies a number of cross sectoral issues. Are there other cross-sectoral issues that should be included in a National Infrastructure Plan?
5. Regulatory reform: Are there important regulatory constraints on the development of infrastructure that are not being addressed by the government's current regulatory reform programme?
6. Aspiration: For each infrastructure sector, is it possible or desirable to define the service level New Zealand should aspire to? If so, what should it be and why?
7. Link to economic growth: What additional investment would help New Zealand to increase its rate of economic growth? How can we be confident that this additional investment is a prudent use of scarce funds?