Civil Contractors welcomes new infrastructure agency

Civil Contractors New Zealand welcomed today’s announcement from Infrastructure Minister Hon. Shane Jones that a new independent infrastructure agency would be established to improve government oversight into the infrastructure and civil construction industry.

CCNZ Chief Executive Peter Silcock said a new entity to provide oversight could potentially be of huge benefit, helping to resolve recent uncertainty over coming workflow following the change of government transport and infrastructure priorities, as well as unifying the coming efforts to improve consistency and visibility in New Zealand’s infrastructure investment.

“The proposed new infrastructure agency has the potential to provide infrastructure pipeline visibility, certainty and prioritisation across Government, as well as a clear and integrated action plan to deliver the pipeline”, Mr Silcock said.

“We hope the new agency will also provide a centre of procurement excellence to improve the quality and reduce the costs of procurement, leading to greater certainty for Kiwi civil contractors and better ability to invest in our people, plant and systems.”

He said because of these factors, the creation of the new agency would also have wider benefits for New Zealand, streamlining project delivery, ensuring projects were completed on time and on budget, and providing contractors more certainty around projects so they would be able to make more resource available for the employment and development of their staff.

The creation of this entity would come at a “critical juncture” for New Zealand, with coming plans for KiwiBuild and proposed record levels of investment in infrastructure, Mr Silcock said.

The delivery of critical community infrastructure water, transport, energy and communications must be a key strategic priority for this government, given its stated goals, he said.

“This is a critical time for New Zealand, with opportunities to achieve fantastic outcomes for our communities – or to squander more money than ever before. It is an essential time for Government to work hand-in-hand with industry, and an independent agency can facilitate this.”

ENDS

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