‘New Zealand Upgrade’ given new name
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has replaced the Labour Government’s “New Zealand Upgrade” infrastructure programme with a new brand for road projects: “Roads of regional significance”.
Brown announced the end of the New Zealand Upgrade scheme, which had been troubled by cost overruns, yesterday. Many of the road projects that were part of the programme would instead become “roads of regional significance”, and ministers would no longer be deciding on the scope and delivery of the projects.
Two projects would be delayed, and two others wrapped into four-lane highway builds.
"We're taking it away from ministers making these decisions, and we're giving it to the New Zealand Transport Agency board,“Brown said, at a press conference next to a noisy Papakura road, yesterday morning.
“The New Zealand Upgrade slogan won't be used when it comes to the roading component, instead they will be under the ‘roads of national significance’ or ‘roads of regional significance’ names.”
The Labour-NZ First Government in 2019 promised to invest $12 billion in transport, health, and education infrastructure projects, with the aim of creating a pipeline of projects to bolster the economy, particularly so during the Covid-19 pandemic which followed.
But a 2023 review by Auditor-General John Ryan found the projects were often hastily prepared so they could be announced by ministers, who made decisions on the projects when they were not fully scoped or planned, despite advice there was a “real risk of cost overruns” for the transport projects.
Brown said there was a $1.5 billion funding cap for the upgrade projects when the National-coalition entered government. It would be “irresponsible” to continue with the transport component of the upgrade programme, he said.
The Government planned to continue many of the roading projects that were planned. However, two safety improvement projects, Mill Rd in Auckland and State Highway 1 between Whangarei and Port Marsden, would be wrapped into the four-lane “roads of national significance” highways, roads the Government planned to progress in 2024.
Two other projects, at Brougham St in Christchurch and State Highway 22 in Drury, would only proceed if there were remaining funds in the $6.5b allocated to the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for the road projects.
“That is the funding allowance that we have provided, and they are at a stage where they [NZTA] have got much better understanding of the costs.
“And what we're saying is, 'We expect you to deliver within this budget, and we're going to give you decision-making rights around scope of those projects to get things done'."
Brown said ministers in the past Government had allowed “scope creep” in the projects, delaying decisions and adding cost.