New Zealand’s urban growth system is broken and must be revised to incentivise cities to grow, an infrastructure expert maintains   City leaders must be given the flexibility and tools they need to succeed, says Stephen Selwood, CEO of Infrastructure New Zealand. Continue →

Good communications is essential for safety, but the latest Consumer NZ survey reveals some telecommunications companies aren’t getting the message Telco customers rated Vodafone last for both mobile and broadband services in Consumer NZ’s latest satisfaction survey, the same place it occupied last year. Continue →

New Zealand’s civil contractors have welcomed the record level of investment in transport in the Government Policy Statement on Land Transport, but are concerned a medium-term construction gap risks losing civil construction capability and capacity to overseas markets Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Peter Silcock said the potential $2 billion gap would occur between 2019-2022 as investment shifted from completion of major state highway construction projects to construction of rapid transit and public transport projects, which would not really ramp up until post-2022. Continue →

There are several simple steps that New Zealand could implement to achieve the goal of a low-emission economy, says Toyota New Zealand CEO Alistair Davis   The Productivity Commission’s draft on the move to a low carbon emission economy through a Zero Carbon Act is a sound report on what lies ahead. Continue →

Leading industry figures and academics have backed the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s call for the government to clear up the confusion around environmentally-friendly plastics Commissioner Simon Upton has released an online resource to help concerned consumers tackle the complexities of the issue, but he says the government needs to “step in and assume greater responsibility.” “There are all sorts of supposedly environmentally-friendly plastics coming onto the market, but it is extremely difficult for consumers to make sense of their respective claims,” Upton observes. Continue →

Christchurch has a golden opportunity to become New Zealand’s number one city of choice as the rebuild takes effect, outgoing Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Peter Townsend claims. Continue →

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has published a handy guide to managing buildings in emergencies Managing buildings in an emergency describes the roles and responsibilities of central and local government and other agencies for managing buildings in an emergency using the 4Rs framework – Readiness, Response, Recovery and Reduction. Continue →

Efforts to ease the driver shortage in the road transport industry has attracted significant numbers of female students to a Commercial Road Transport Programme being held at Manukau Institute of Technology The course, the first of its kind at MIT, aims to graduate students with learner’s class 4 driving licenses. Continue →

The latest annual Ministry of Health report has revealed 19 per cent of people are exposed to drinking water that doesn’t meet all safety standards The figure is alarming, but Professor Michael Baker, Professor of Public Health, University of Otago, notes the report also contains good news. Continue →

The second of a two-part series by AsiaPacific Infrastructure Content Partners Caroline Boot and Kerrie McEwen examines expectations from a new government Part one examined what has been achieved in 2017 and what still needs some work. Continue →