PGF funding bureaucrats — Nats

WELLINGTON: The Government’s $3 billion Provincial Growth Fund has created twice as many jobs for bureaucrats in Wellington than in the regions, the National Party says.

‘‘After a year in operation, government figures show 118 civil servants have been employed to administer the Provincial Growth Fund, with most based in Wellington,’’ National’s regional development spokesman, Paul Goldsmith, said in a statement yesterday.

‘‘Only 54 actual jobs have been created so far — a run rate of less than 0.5 FTE [fulltime equivalent employees] for each official.’’

Earlier this week, Mr Goldsmith said that just 38 of the 135 announced PGF projects had received funding, representing 3.4% of the total $850 million PGF funding announced so far.

‘‘That’s $26.6 million for 54 jobs, or the equivalent of $490,191 per job,’’ he said.

The Government has challenged National’s figures, adding that it would take time for the PGF projects to pick up steam and create jobs.

In December last year, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones said figures provided by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research showed that the PGF would create about 9000 jobs.

Yesterday Robert Pigou, the head of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Provincial Development Unit, said that the PGF was on track to create 10,000 jobs.

In his statement, Mr Pigou did not address the numbers cited by National, but he said that job creation ‘‘does not happen overnight’’.

‘‘An expectation otherwise fails to appreciate and under stand the fundamentals of project delivery and the fact that work takes time to scale up.’’

He added that initial work done by applicants revealed more than 10,000 jobs might be created as a result of PGF investment.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has also challenged National’s numbers.

‘‘On a weektoweek basis, the amount of FTEs is going to change, so I really dispute trying to take a snapshot in time and claiming that’s accurate,’’ she told Newstalk ZB earlier this week.

Mr Goldsmith said the figures had come from government officials.

‘‘New Zealanders deserve straight answers from Mr Jones, given he has responsibility for $3 billion of taxpayers’ money. Instead, he shrugs and makes vague promises that jobs will materialise down the track.’’ — NZME