Some projects dumped as PGF
A host of Provincial Growth Fund projects are set to be scrapped this week as the Government sets out the parameters for its repurposed fund.
In the wake of Covid-19, Cabinet has ordered decisions to be based on job creation, quick timing and visibility, and will use changes to the Resource Management powers to do so.
It comes as Regional Economic Development Minister
Shane Jones announced the first tranche of new projects to be funded.
This included up to $100m for waterway fencing, riparian planting and stock water reticulation, $60m for road and rail investments and up to $70m for upgrades of marae, town halls, Pasifika churches and war memorials.
He expected the funding would create hundreds of jobs throughout the country. The PGF would create jobs in shorter time frames through at least $600m being refocused on projects with more immediate economic benefits, Jones said.
The funding consists of repurposed
PGF money and unallocated funding from the
Regional Investment Opportunities Contingency.
Dumped projects
Jones told Stuff yesterday that his staff were sending letters to failed applicants this week, but he would not say who they were or how many had been scrapped.
After the formal notifications were made he would ‘‘front up and speak about the reasons’’. He expected they would reach out to express their disillusionment or that they believed they deserved another crack.
Any projects that did not meet the deadlines and deliverables would be terminated, so funds could be freed up for other projects.
Inhibitors included the difficulty for some projects to build momentum after getting a decision in principle and then not being able to navigate the necessary co-funding arrangements or statutory consents, he said.