Transport infrastructure plan backs businesses to grow, gives certainty on funding pipeline
12 July 2018
NZ Government:
New Zealand’s largest ever 10-year plan for
land
transport investment announced today sends a clear message that the
Coalition Government is committed to a long-term nationwide
infrastructure strategy to boost productivity and support businesses to
grow, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says.
“We know that productivity and economic growth in New Zealand has been
held back by gridlock in our cities and under-investment in regional
roads and
rail. We are fixing this by ensuring that the land transport
component of our economic plan supports a modern, growing economy,”
Grant Robertson said.
“The 2018 Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS) provides
certainty to
New Zealand businesses and exporters that we are backing them to
become more productive. The GPS is also key to our goal of transitioning
the economy to more sustainable growth, and will promote more inclusive
growth by spreading increases in transport investment across every
region.”
The investments made as a result of the 2018 GPS will:
-
Boost productivity by reducing congestion in our cities
-
Support our primary industries by ensuring that regional networks are better connected
-
Give our exporters easier access to international markets by making sure nationally important transport connections are maintained and improved, and
-
Support New Zealand’s tourism industry by improving transport connections on key regional tourist routes
“We are prioritising a land
transport system that provides increased access to economic and social
opportunities for businesses and individuals,” Grant Robertson said.
“The GPS includes a series of reporting measures to track the progress
of these goals, including reliability of freight and passenger average
travel times on regional networks, tourist routes and metropolitan
areas.
“The Government is also providing certainty by detailing upfront how we
are fully funding our transport plans.
“The GPS supports implementation of the $28 billion
Auckland Transport Alignment Project (ATAP) between the Government
and
Auckland Council.
“We inherited an ATAP plan with a $9.7 billion funding gap, which
created uncertainty over whether unfunded projects promised by the
previous Government would have to be scrapped.
“We made it a priority of our first few months in Government to address
this so that we could give
Auckland businesses certainty that the
projects we were backing were fully funded.
“This is the same with the nationwide GPS announced today. New Zealand
businesses that rely on land transport, and construction firms seeking
to bid for these projects, can be confident about the Government’s
long-term transport infrastructure pipeline,” Grant Robertson said.
GPS 2018 can be found here: https://www.transport.govt.nz/multi-modal/keystrategiesandplans/gpsonlandtransportfunding/
--ENDS--
Source: New Zealand Government - www.beehive.govt.nz
Contact: N/A
External Links: https://www.transport.govt.nz/multi-modal/keystrategiesandplans/gpsonlandtransportfunding/
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