Source: New Zealand Government
Minister for Land Information Hon Mike Butterick has welcomed the Public Works Amendment Bill passing its third reading in Parliament tonight.
The Public Works Act enables central and local government and infrastructure providers to acquire land that is needed for infrastructure development. This includes roads as well as public facilities, energy transmission and railways.
“The Public Works Act has not been substantially updated since 1988 and has not kept pace with modern infrastructure development practices,” Mr Butterick says.
“The processes currently required under the Public Works Act are long, slow, and complex for both government and landowners to navigate, resulting in unnecessary delays, additional costs and uncertainty for everyone involved.
“The Public Works Amendment Bill streamlines and clarifies processes to better reflect modern infrastructure development practices, while maintaining protections and safeguards for landowners.
“These law changes will help New Zealand develop the infrastructure we need to boost our economy and move our country forward.”
The preferred way to acquire land for public works is always through a negotiated agreement. The amendments which have passed include changes to support fair and effective compensation for landowners. A new incentive payment for landowners of 10% of the land’s value has been introduced to encourage early agreement to sell, along with increases in payments that recognise the disruption landowners experience.
The changes streamline and improve objection processes to make sure they are more efficient and focused on the land being taken rather than the overall project. The amended law will allow for coordinated land acquisition for connected projects rather than forcing different agencies to run separate processes.
There will also be a faster process that can be used as part of an emergency recovery, while still protecting the interests of landowners.
“Feedback through the Select Committee Process helped to shape this legislation, and I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the process” Mr Butterick says.
Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/09/18/modernising-the-public-works-act/