Govt urgency lacking on infrastructure jobs
Ilove a good coastal pathway. They’re a proven people-pleaser. Whether it’s Auckland’s Tamaki Drive, Wellington’s Great Harbour Way or Dunedin’s staggering coastal shared path spanning the length of Otago Peninsula, serious dollars are being shovelled into cycling and walking shared paths on the water’s edge.
The 27 kilometre Peninsula Connection project in Dunedin, currently under construction, is the star specimen for its sheer audacity.
Christchurch’s coastal pathway project, connecting Ferrymead with Scarborough Beach, has been given a major shot in the arm with government funding secured for the fifth and final section of the route, linking Redcliffs to Shag Rock. The completion of this community-led project will be eagerly embraced and celebrated.
But the pathway’s $15 million funding injection was the only Canterbury project to specifically feel the love from the Government’s big reveal on the Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund.
Canterbury has been allocated $300m of this $3 billion infrastructure fund, established to much fanfare in March. Councils were implored to swiftly submit their wish-lists of ‘‘shovel-ready’’ projects to the Infrastructure Reference Group for consideration.
The fact that it’s taken over three months for the Government to reveal funding approval for any specific projects is pedestrian enough. But what further undermines the Government’s past pretence about acting with great urgency is its calculated gall in now playing the slow striptease game over all further project funding announcements.
Only $240m of the full funding pot has now been released to specifically announced projects. They relate to 12 of the 150 earmarked projects, but just what the other 138 projects are is being firmly kept under wraps to maximise the political mileage.
The Government has opted to weaponise the lion’s share of the fund, 92 per cent of it, to be dripfed on the election campaign trail. It might be shrewd politics, but it’s cravenly cynical. So much for the sense of urgency.
Stretching the bounds on the ‘‘shovel-ready’’ definition, the qualifying projects actually have a 6-12 month timeline for work to commence. This is not shovels, holes and physical works starting next week, or even this side of Christmas.
The construction industry is understandably anxious about retaining its skilled workforce during the economic downturn. Civil Contractors New Zealand CEO Peter Silcock is voicing his concerns about the teased-out nature of the funding announcements.
‘‘Details on the remaining 138 are sorely needed for industry to plan its future workforce needs and provide meaningful employment in infrastructure construction. We now need clarity about exactly what’s happening in the form of specific projects and tenders coming to market ASAP, or we may see extensive job losses,’’ he says.
The Infrastructure Reference Group projects are in addition to the $12b New Zealand Upgrade Programme that the prime minister unveiled in January.
Many of those roading projects were reactivated Roads of National Significance the Government had previously deferred, like Penlink and the Tauranga Northern Link. They had already been consented under the previous government, they were deemed to be ‘‘shovel-ready’’, but you’ll struggle to find any of them that are meaningfully under way, despite the funding injection.
As an example, construction of Penlink isn’t scheduled to begin until the end of next year.
Canterbury was largely left out in the cold in January’s Upgrade Programme. The three most notable projects were the $40m safety enhancement spend-up on Brougham St, $60m for safer intersection crossings with SH1 at Rolleston and Burnham, plus $25m to create dedicated bus lanes on SH75, connecting the Southern Motorway with Halswell. None of those projects are slated to commence construction until 2022.
The most egregious oversight from the Upgrade Programme was the failure to fund the Woodend Bypass. The project was resubmitted to the Infrastructure Reference Group, but there’s still no confirmation.
Also topping my wish-list would be four-laning SH1 from Rolleston to Ashburton, which remains one of New Zealand’s most dangerous, high-fatality stretches of highway.
The jungle drums suggest the Woodend Bypass will finally be green-lighted, but you’ll have to wait for a carefully stage-managed announcement during the election campaign.
Make no mistake, infrastructure funding has been retooled as blatant vote-catching bait.
The construction industry is understandably anxious about retaining its skilled workforce during the economic downturn.