Fast-tracked public projects give $500m boost

2 Comments
11 February 2009
Fast-tracked public projects give $500m boost

Prime Minister John Key and Infrastructure Minister Bill English today confirmed almost $500 million worth of publicly-funded building projects will be accelerated in the latest in a series of initiatives under the Government’s Jobs and Growth Plan.

The projects, spanning the housing, transport and education sectors and spread widely around regions, have been fast-tracked to contribute quickly to the Government’s economic stimulus programme.

"These projects will get underway quickly – in many cases in the next few months – and they will keep more New Zealanders working as the global economic crisis is felt here," Mr Key said. "They were chosen because they are quality projects, they will make lasting contributions to our economy and they are ready to go.

"They will employ New Zealanders and create work for businesses in regions, whether they are builders, plumbers or electricians. And their benefits will flow through communities by helping keep suppliers and sub-contractors, shopkeepers and sales staff in business."

About $100 million worth of fast-tracked projects will start before June 30 this year.

The $483.7 million of infrastructure spending brought forward under today’s announcements include:

Education – $216.7 million of spending, including five new schools, school refurbishments and maintenance and ICT infrastructure improvements.
Transport – $142.5 million of spending, spanning five large state highway projects and a programme of smaller, regional roading improvement projects.
Housing – $124.5 million of spending, allowing Housing New Zealand to upgrade and renovate 10,000 more state houses, and build 69 new state houses over the next six months.

The infrastructure announcement today is the latest in a series of Government jobs and growth initiatives, which will ease the sharpest impact of the global recession and prepare New Zealand for future growth.

It follows a $480 million helping hand of tax and regulatory assistance for small and medium businesses last week, sweeping reforms of the Resource Management Act and a programme of income tax cuts over each of the next three years.

"Infrastructure is an important part of our Jobs and Growth Plan and this is just the first announcement about bringing forward worthwhile projects that will help us through the current economic challenges and contribute to driving up New Zealand’s long-term economic competitiveness," Mr English said.

Cabinet will shortly consider the establishment of a small infrastructure unit to manage and plan New Zealand’s long-term infrastructure needs and the Budget will include significant infrastructure initiatives.

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#1 - Clunking Fist said:
2009-02-17 06:29 - (Reply)

John Key what are you doing? Debt has got the world into the current financial and economic crisis. How will more debt get us out? You must know that you will need to borrow in order to take "cornerstone" stakes in "iconic" companies. So all you do is transfer the irresponsible debt from the shoulders of the shareholders, to the shoulders of the innocent taxpayers. In the last election, I voted for a change from the "government knows best" and "the government can fix this" type of thinking. I am left with no option but to believe you do not have any economic training. A recession causes problem companies, heavily indebted companies, to fail. This allows the assets of those companies to be sold off and the debt of the old company is “wiped”. Often, the buyers need the employees, too, so not too many jobs are lost. They also value the intellectual property and brands. By “protecting” the debt, you prevent this natural process from occurring. Why do you think we are in the midst of this current crisis? Do you really believe that capitalism failed and is to blame for the current crisis? By talking of bailouts, you certainly give that impression. I thought you were handling the crisis well until this point. The invisible hand will fix this problem. Sure, there will be heartbreak and misery for some. But a future with the higher taxes required to repay all the debt that western governments are incurring, will just extend the misery into the future, possibly for a generation or two. Yours sincerely Angry and disgusted taxpayer.

#2 - Mark Laycock 2009-02-18 07:37 - (Reply)

This is more of a what are you thinking type of scenario - congratulations Mr Key, your job summit has *failed* even before it has started, simply because the only people you have "invited" are exactly those greedy people who have caused the woes - what plan are they going to come up with that won't protect their interests? Nowhere on your list do I see any of the people who could realistically advance solid and sound advice - the people people, so to speak. This is about saving (and hopefully creating) jobs - but then the statistics about where the unemployment line is going, have already been accepted - nowhere do I see the plan detailing how we are NOT going to let unemployment balloon out to the suggested figure - we just accept (because our government of the day says so) that it will get beyond 7%. Contrary to the other comment - in these times it is the taxpayer who will have to foot the bill - we do after all want to enjoy in the freedoms of what New Zealand has to offer and therefore should be held accountable to ensure its wellbeing. What I do see is government wanting to throw money at already "greedy" business to help resolve issues. ANZ are invited to your summit yet they have just off-shored 100 jobs - oh yes, there is an undertaking that they will try to place those people about to lose their jobs within ANZ - but mind you, no guarantees on that one - and you are going to listen to the head of that bank on how he thinks we should be saving or creating jobs - as the Tui marketing says, Yeah Right! I have absolutely no qualms about a Kiwi icon sinking either - F&P must attend to their own problems - I am most certainly concerned about the 1600 jobs which are on the line though - F&P are just a business, a badly managed one from what I can see (bad decisions about off-shoring) and run by a CEO who takes a $M1+ salary home and then allows the business to fail - clearly not enough "at-risk" pay. Oh and I see he is going to take a 7% salary decrease - if he had moral fortitude and accepted that he has failed F&P he would volunteer to render his services for free for a year (it's not that he hasn't generated a couple of spare millions over the years) - that way F&P could guarantee the income of at least 16 workers. Where is our Department of Labour and a Public Works Department? Creating jobs (from the jobless) would require pooling those resources, as getting them into Public Works Projects (not contracted out expensive work for greedy business owners) which would be a much cheaper way of getting infrastructure sorted - I don't see this in any plan. Please speak to the people who can really make a difference not those out to protect their own interests. I say do NOT start to try saving "Kiwi Icons" - if they have been badly managed then so be it if they fail - do however save the jobs!

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