Provincial Growth Fund to be replaced

WELLINGTON: Labour yesterday announced a $200 million fund — replacing the Provincial Growth Fund — to support economic development plans in the regions, as part of its election manifesto.

Party leader Jacinda Ardern and regional development spokesman Phil Twyford outlined the policy yesterday.

The main points:

A $200 million regional strategic partnership fund to provide seed funding for regional economic development plans.

Existing Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) projects will be progressed over the next term, unallocated PGF sector funding to be considered for redistribution to new regionally developed plans.

Continuing the Provincial Development Unit to work with regions to develop and implement economic development plans.

$42 billion of capital committed to stimulate the Covid recovery and create jobs.

Labour’s plan to work with the regions is built around five key principles: investing in people, creating jobs, futureproofing the economy, supporting small businesses and positioning New Zealand globally.

It said over the past three years the Government had made real progress investing in regional

New Zealand.

The PGF has put regional investment back on track through its investment in infrastructure, training and jobs.

The Government has also allocated $42 billion for capital projects such as new roads, schools, hospitals and shovelready projects across the country to help stimulate growth and create jobs as a key plank in the Covid recovery, the party said.

‘‘Investing in our regions has been a priority for our government over the last three years and will be a feature of our Covid recovery,’’ Ms Ardern said in a statement.

‘‘The coalition government allocated over $3 billion through the PGF to boost growth in our regions.

‘‘Approved projects are at a variety of stages of implementation, and will take some time to come to full fruition.

‘‘We are committed to seeing individually approved projects through to completion.’’

Any PGF funding that has been allocated to sectors but is not yet tagged to a specific project will be reviewed with a view to redistributing it to the regional plans.

The party said it already had a significant pipeline of investment across the regions in a range of health, education, transport, and housing infrastructure. — RNZ