Purpose of a National Infrastructure Plan

6. The purpose of a National Infrastructure Plan is to present a high-level view of the state of New Zealand’s infrastructure, describe the principles and direction of future investment, improve alignment between national and regional planning, establish greater discipline around infrastructure decisions, and increase public awareness about the role that infrastructure plays in supporting and raising the nation’s living standards. It should ultimately inform the reader on three topics:

• The state of infrastructure at present, and what kind of a challenge it poses;
• What improvement is likely to occur on the basis of currently committed projects and policies; and
• What sort of infrastructure New Zealand needs to achieve and support ambitious economic growth and quality of life targets, and how much of a gap there is between the committed improvements and what we would need to see to lift New Zealand to a higher level.

What will the Plan cover?

7. Infrastructure is usually defined as fixed long-lived structures that facilitate the production of goods and services, both physical and institutional. The National Infrastructure Plan will focus on physical infrastructure of national significance that has a direct impact on productivity and living standards. The capital-intensive sectors of government (health, education and corrections) will also be covered:

8. The Plan will consolidate existing sector plans for investment in infrastructure as far as these have been developed. However, it will not:

• Provide an exhaustive list of infrastructure projects;
• Provide any more specificity or certainty about future investment than is already provided by sectoral plans;
• Be a funding or policy commitment set in stone - it will, instead, be indicative and provisional and be revised and renewed according to new information, technology, community preferences, demographics, economic performance, etc;
• Be directive; or
• Provide for any additional funding beyond what has already been allocated in the government's annual budget.

Previous Research

9. Though this will be the first 20-year Plan, the analysis of infrastructure builds on work previously carried out. In particular, an infrastructure audit was performed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in 2003 for the Ministry of Economic Development[1] and was updated by officials in 2008.

10. The government also recognises the work done by the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (NZCID) and in particular, its booklet “Policy Priorities for Advancing Economic Infrastructure Development in New Zealand” as well as its reports “Comparing Infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand: Key Lessons for New Zealand” and “Meeting New Zealand’s Transport Infrastructure Needs to 2025”.[2]

11. Other notable previous research includes that enclosed with the various local government submissions on the Local Government Rating Inquiry; research undertaken by NZIER, including the report they prepared for NZCID “Summary Infrastructure Benchmarks: Comparing infrastructure provision in New Zealand and other countries”;[3] and material prepared by and for the Growth and Innovation Advisory Board, such as “Generating Growth: Infrastructure” (prepared by Infometrics).[4]