Today’s announcement is very exciting and represents a much needed shift in the way New Zealand plans and funds urban growth, but it is not yet clear whether housing in the new city will be affordable or supports Government aspirations for competitive land supply, says Infrastructure NZ CEO Paul Blair The new Drury development south of Auckland takes some concepts from Infrastructure New Zealand’s October 2017 ‘Innovation City’ report on how to create a satellite city. Continue →

A state-of-the-art digital communications network being rolled out in New Zealand will enable industries to reach new levels of safety and productivity The network will be powered by Motorola Solutions’ advanced, MOTOTRBO Capacity Max technology providing highly secure, reliable and professional two-way radio solutions that give users access to feature-rich, next-generation networks and applications. Continue →

$2.6 billion of the shovel ready infrastructure fund has been allocated to 150 projects, but details on these projects are sorely needed for the infrastructure sector to plan its future workforce needs Ministers Robertson and Jones announced today that $2.6 billion of the $3 billion shovel ready fund has been allocated to 150 projects, with $400m still to be allocated. Continue →

The Southland-based aluminium smelter is the largest consumer of electricity in the country, using approximately 12% of New Zealand’s electricity   “While this will be a tough period for Southland, I see longer-term upsides for New Zealand around a substantive gain in electricity storage,” says University of Auckland Adjunct Professor Harvey Weake. Continue →

Fast-tracking resource consents for critical infrastructure and development projects is a pragmatic and welcome government response to assisting the Covid 19 recovery process says Resource Reform NZ, a coalition of business and environmental interests The Minister for the Environment David Parker has today announced fast-track amendments to the Resource Management Act to better enable economic recovery from Covid-19. Continue →

Councils hit hard by COVID-19, who oversee half this country’s public infrastructure, require financial support from central government, says Paul Blair CEO of Infrastructure New Zealand Rates, which some councils are already choosing to freeze or cut, only provide 60% of council revenues, on average. Continue →

The Covid-19 pandemic will pass, and relatively quickly, but life will never be the same, which may not be such a bad thing Michael Liebreich – BloombergNEF For a time the world will be in recovery mode, and then the time will come when life will once again feel normal. Continue →

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced the preferred site of the 2.5 kilometre long inter-modal freight hub is between Palmerston North Airport and Bunnythorpe “The announcement of the preferred site for the Regional Freight Hub near Palmerston North is a significant milestone for this nationally important logistics project,” KiwiRail Group Chief Executive Greg Miller says. Continue →

New Zealand lags far behind in recognising that high temperature waste incineration can provide efficient and clean energy, plus it comes with the added bonus of destroying pathogens and viruses in the process with minimal effect on the environment The Spittelau waste to energy facility in Vienna. Continue →

With $761 million of Government investment announced for local councils who opt-in to its wider reform programme, they can now either step up, or carry on with the same old approach and use that funding as an excuse to cut their own “The Government’s long-awaited funding boost and water reform agenda is New Zealand’s best chance to create a high performing water sector for New Zealanders,” says Infrastructure NZ Chief Executive Paul Blair. Continue →