The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission () (Infracom) is an autonomous
Crown entity
A Crown entity (from the Commonwealth term ''The Crown, Crown'') is an organisation that forms part of New Zealand's public sector organisations in New Zealand, state sector established under the Crown Entities Act 2004, a unique umbrella governa ...
. It has primary functions of long-term strategy and planning for
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and pri ...
, as well as procurement and delivery advice and support for major projects.
Establishment
Prior to the establishment of Infracom, the
Treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...
was responsible for producing the Thirty Year New Zealand Infrastructure Plan, the Capital Intentions Plan, the Infrastructure Evidence Base, and the State of Infrastructure Reports. The historical documents published by Treasury include the 2015 issue of the 30 year Infrastructure Plan
The legislation to formally establish the Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga came into force on 25 September 2019 and the Commission is listed under Schedule 1 – Part 2 of the
Crown Entities Act 2004
The Crown Entities Act 2004 is a statute of the New Zealand Parliament that provides the framework for the establishment, governance, and operation of Crown entities, and to clarify accountability relationships between Crown entities, their bo ...
.
At the launch of the Infrastructure Commission in February 2019, the
Minister for Infrastructure,
Shane Jones
Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives for the New Zealand First party.
Jones' political career began in 2005 as a list MP for the Labour Party. He b ...
, said New Zealand has an "unprecedented infrastructure deficit" and the Commission was tasked with addressing that. Transport projects and urban infrastructure issues would likely be the focus of the new commission.
In August 2019, the Minister announced the appointment of
Dr Alan Bollard, a former Reserve Bank governor as chair of the new Infrastructure Commission. In commenting on the announcement, the Minister said that the government had allocated $41 billion in the Budget to build schools, hospitals, houses, roads and public transport over the next five years.
Infracom will work with central and local government, the private sector, iwi and other stakeholders, and develop a 30-year infrastructure strategy that will replace the government's current 30-year plan. The first plan will be reported to government by the end of 2021 and thereafter at least every 5 years. The strategy will cover the ability of existing infrastructure to meet community expectations; current and future infrastructure needs and priorities; as well as any barriers which could impede the delivery of infrastructure or services arising from it.
The Treasury now monitors the performance of Infracom and provides advice to Ministers on the Commission's long-term infrastructure strategy and its other recommendations.
Infrastructure pipeline
Infracom collects and publishes searchable information about planned infrastructure projects (the pipeline).
On 29 January 2020, the
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
announced a $12 billion package of infrastructure investments to be known as the
New Zealand Upgrade Programme
On 29 January 2020, the New Zealand Upgrade Programme was announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. The programme is a NZ$, $12 billion infrastructure package to improve roads, rail, hospitals and schools around the country, of which $8 billi ...
. In its quarterly update of the infrastructure pipeline in March 2020, Infracom said that it had incorporated nearly $7 billion of New Zealand Upgrade programme projects, bringing the estimated total value of the works pipeline to $33.2 billion.
Publications
Measuring the value and service outcomes of social infrastructure PPPs in Australia and New Zealand – April 2020Special Report - Waters Reform in New Zealand - September 2020
See also
*
Infrastructure New Zealand
References
{{Reflist
New Zealand autonomous Crown entities
Infrastructure in New Zealand
Local government in New Zealand
2019 establishments in New Zealand
Government agencies established in 2019