Source: EMA
Today’s announcement from the Government accelerating seven of its Roads of National Significance (RoNS) is a welcome boost for the infrastructure sector and the economy, says the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA).
“Having more urgency behind getting those projects underway in the next two to three years will give some security to infrastructure-focused businesses that are hemorrhaging staff at the moment,” says EMA Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald.
“Those are people from the grunty end of the business who will build these projects but also those involved at the design, engineering, financing and legal phases. Businesses at both ends of the spectrum are currently losing these valuable people overseas where demand for their skills is high.
“Once they are gone, they are very hard to get back without re-importing those skills through immigration – a slower and more costly option than retaining our own people.”
The Government has announced that NZTA will accelerate consenting and property acquisition. Design and construction partners will be selected to progress the first phase of seven RoNS projects aiming to begin procurement, enabling works and construction in the next three years.
“Many of the companies likely to be involved in these early phases of the projects have either struggled to retain staff or they’ve had to let them go,” says McDonald.
“Now they will be able to see what’s coming and plan to hold onto their workforce appropriately. Add in the almost $500 million for maintenance announced in the Budget and we are starting to see a workflow that will encourage those skilled people to stay where they are needed – here in New Zealand.”
McDonald said four of those projects were based in the Upper North Island and would help move goods, freight and people more efficiently and economically in the region, which is the engine room of the national economy.
Upper North Island projects include, SH1 Cambridge to Piarere (the Tauranga turnoff), SH29 Tauriko coming out of Tauranga , Mill Road (in Auckland’s rapidly growing south) and Warkworth to Wellsford. The Takitimu North Link Stage 1 is already underway, with Ōtaki to North of Levin to begin construction next year, and Takitimu North Link Stage 2 also now a priority. NZTA is also focussing on Belfast to Pegasus (including the Woodend Bypass north of Christchurch) and the Hawke’s Bay Expressway.
