Wellington, Nov 1 (IANS) The New Zealand government Thursday laid out its infrastructure building programme, involving plans to rebuild the earthquake-battered city of Christchurch and initiatives to support business growth.
The “Building Infrastructure” report, covering one of the six areas of the government’s business growth agenda, set out 67 infrastructure initiatives, including recruiting 900 workers to reconstruct infrastructure facilities in the city and surrounding Canterbury region, reported Xinhua.
“For businesses to invest in plant and facilities in New Zealand, they need to be confident that they will have access to infrastructure that supports their businesses transport, energy, water and telecommunications,” Finance Minister Bill English said in a statement.
The investments listed in the report included 5.5 billion NZ dollars ($4.52 billion) for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund; 1.6 billion NZ dollars for ultra-fast broadband and faster rural broadband; 5 billion NZ dollars for the national electricity grid; and 12.2 billion NZ dollars for roads between 2012 and 2015.
The report set out a vision of resilient and coordinated infrastructure that contributed to economic growth and increased quality of life by 2030.
“Resilient, efficient and coordinated infrastructure networks are vital to a well-running economy. They help the movement of people, goods and information around our country and around our world,” English said.
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said the region’s infrastructure repair was a huge task and the training of workers for the job over the next five years would benefit the national economy.
“Roughly 1,020 km of road will need rebuilding, which is half of the city’s urban sealed roads,” he said.
Business lobby group Business New Zealand welcomed the report, with chief executive Phil O’Reilly saying appropriate infrastructure investment would bring more certainty for business and promote more private sector business investment.
“Infrastructure assets are expensive and long-lasting, and if well planned and coordinated bring confidence for enterprise,” O’ Reilly said in a statement.
