This is the second annual progress report prepared by the National Infrastructure Unit within the Treasury.

“The Government recognises the importance that infrastructure plays in the New Zealand economy, especially in moving people, freight and information around our country and to our international markets,” Mr English says.

“This commitment has seen a large scale investment programme, major overhauls and reviews of policy and regulations, and a more coordinated and joined up plan to best deliver our long term infrastructure needs.

“The Government’s multi-billion dollar infrastructure investment over recent years has also supported thousands of jobs across New Zealand.”

The report shows progress across all infrastructure sectors. Large investments have been made in the electricity transmission network, the roll out of ultra-fast broadband, major transport projects including the roads of national significance, the establishment of the Crown Irrigation Investment Company and the KiwiRail turnaround plan.

A significant national land transport programme has ensured a large number of regional roading projects have been completed or are underway.

“The Government is also committed to ensuring regulations and processes for infrastructure projects provide adequate scrutiny and protection,” Mr English says. “The framework needs to be flexible and efficient.

“This includes the streamlined consenting process that has been used so far for 13 large, nationally significant projects, regulatory reviews in the telecommunications sector, freshwater reforms and the work programme to improve housing affordability.

“The Government recognises that it will take time to bring about all change required, but we are pleased with progress towards the direction set out in the National Infrastructure Plan.

“This is reflected in improved discussions and an increased willingness to work across government agencies, local government and the private sector. Recent examples include announcements of the first 11 special housing areas in recent weeks and the leadership local government is showing in better understanding and managing water assets and supplies.”

Mr English says more private sector involvement in delivering public infrastructure is important in achieving better investment outcomes during both the construction phase and over the life of the assets.

“The public-private partnership model is one way of doing this and we are pleased to see more PPP projects underway or in the planning stages. They allow better allocation of risk between the public and private sectors, leading to better outcomes and reduced cost.”

Mr English acknowledged the National Infrastructure Advisory Board’s role in developing the 2013 National State of Infrastructure Report.

“Delivering the infrastructure New Zealand needs for the future is not only about smart investment in new infrastructure, but also making the best use of our existing infrastructure.”

At a glance – infrastructure programme highlights*

• National Land Transport Fund, including Roads of National Significance and regional roading projects – $5.9 billion.
• Rebuilding Christchurch, including horizontal infrastructure – $3 billion.
• Health sector, including DHB facilities and equipment and the redevelopment of Christchurch and Burwood hospitals – $1.7 billion.
• Transpower and national electricity grid – $1.2 billion.
• Education sector, including 21st Century Schools and the rebuild of the education network in greater Christchurch – $900 million.
• Housing sector, including state housing refurbishments and modernisation – $690 million.
• Ultra-fast broadband network – $430 million.
• Rail infrastructure, including KiwiRail turnaround plan and commuter rail upgrades for Auckland and Wellington – $550 million.
• Irrigation acceleration fund – $18 million.
• Establishing the Crown Irrigation Investments Company – an initial budget allocation of $80 million.

* 2012/13 and 2013/14 financial years

The National State of Infrastructure Report is available at: www.infrastructure.govt.nz

The Local Government Infrastructure Efficiency Expert Advisory Group was established last September to provide independent advice on ways councils can reduce costs in infrastructure without compromising quality.

“The Expert Advisory Group was established as part of the Better Local Government programme focussed on improving efficiency,” says Mr Tremain.

“The group has canvassed a wide range of areas for potential improvements. The Government will now consider the recommendations in consultation with the local government sector before making final decisions.

“I would like to thank the Expert Advisory Group members for their contribution. The combined experience of the group members is reflected in the breadth and depth of the report. It has some far-reaching proposals such as greater use of shared services, simplifying the planning framework and standardised reporting of infrastructure.”

The Expert Advisory Group was chaired by Fran Wilde QSM CNZM. The members were Liz Anderson, Alan Bickers, Philip Cory-Wright, Josephine Grierson, Stephen Selwood and Jeremy Sole.

The report is available on the Department of Internal Affairs’ website http://www.dia.govt.nz/Better-Local-Government#g

“For businesses to invest in plant and facilities in New Zealand, they need to be confident that they will have access to infrastructure that supports their businesses – transport, energy, water and telecommunications,” he says.

“That’s important because we don’t get real growth unless businesses have the confidence to invest, grow and employ more people.

“The Government has committed to significant investment in infrastructure over the past four years, as part of its wider programme to put the economy on a more competitive footing and support jobs.”

This includes:

• $5.5 billion for the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Fund.
• $1.6 billion for ultra-fast broadband and faster rural broadband.
• $5 billion for the national electricity grid.
• $12.2 billion for roading between 2012 and 2015.

“Resilient, efficient and coordinated infrastructure networks are vital to a well-running economy. They help the movement of people, goods and information around our country and around our world,” Mr English says.

“The Government has made good progress in the past four years. We have also set up the National Infrastructure Unit within Treasury and have published two National Infrastructure Plans, to improve the coordination, quality and value for money of our significant infrastructure investment.

“This report brings together all of the initiatives the Government is undertaking to deliver the infrastructure networks demanded by a modern economy.”

Building Infrastructure is the fourth of six progress reports being released to set out activities within the Government’s Business Growth Agenda.

Other reports issued to date are Building Export Markets, Building Innovation and Building Skilled and Safe Workplaces. Future reports will cover natural resources and capital markets.

Building Infrastructure sets out the Government’s vision that, by 2030, New Zealand’s infrastructure is resilient and coordinated and contributes to economic growth and increased quality of life.

“This requires a more strategic approach to infrastructure planning and investment, setting a clear course for the future so that infrastructure providers from all sectors have a common understanding of expectations and policy settings.”

Building Infrastructure provides a progress report on infrastructure initiatives the Government is undertaking in the following areas:

• Strengthening rail, sea and air ports.
• Developing high-speed broadband and telecommunications.
• Improving water storage and use.
• Boosting housing, building and construction.
• Investing in hospitals and schools.
• Rebuilding Christchurch.
• Securing our energy future by supporting diverse sources of reliable and renewable energy.
• Building a fast and efficient roading network.

Next week, the National Infrastructure Unit and the National Infrastructure Advisory Board will publish the first annual report committed to under the National Infrastructure Plan, which the Government released in July last year.

The Government’s Building Infrastructure report is available at:

http://mbie.govt.nz//what-we-do/business-growth-agenda/infrastructure

The programme is part of the Government’s wider infrastructure programme, which is set out in the Building Infrastructure progress report released today.

Run by the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) in partnership with infrastructure training organisation InfraTrain, the scheme will look to recruit 900 new workers over the next year to assist with the rebuild.

“This programme will help meet the high demand for workers and the need to present them to employers with a degree of pre-trade training.

“Through the programme SCIRT and the industry providers will provide training that ranges from six to 14 weeks for new entrants to industry, or on the job re-training for appropriate applicants.

“New entrants who complete the training and meet industry requirements will be guaranteed a job,” Mr Brownlee says.

SCIRT has employed a number of work-place tutors who will continue the delivery of training and evaluation of the new industry entrants through to the completion of their qualifications.

“This is an innovative approach to training and recruitment in the infrastructure industry, and one that will uniquely respond to the challenges posed by the earthquakes,” Mr Brownlee says.

“The size of the infrastructure repair job should not be underestimated.

“To date SCIRT has laid 19 km of fresh water piping, 70 km of waste water piping and 5 km of storm water piping, yet the team is only 12 per cent of their way through the rebuild and repair of horizontal infrastructure.

“Roughly 1020 km of road will need rebuilding, which is half of the city’s urban sealed roads.

“This is a huge job and we will all benefit by up-skilling workers to carry out the work over the next five years.”

Pre-employment training programmes will be delivered by a number of partners, including the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, the Canterbury Tertiary College, Tai Poutini Polytechnic and the Salvation Army.

They include full year courses for young students who complete the Canterbury Tertiary College programme instead of the standard Year 13 school year; 12 week pre-trade training at CPIT and Tai Poutini; and life-skills plus pre-trade training by the Salvation Army.

All of these providers are developing their programmes under the umbrella of InfraTrain, which has contributed to content development, standard development and the alignment of the on-going work-place training programmes to wider NZQA qualifications.

Mr Brownlee says the recruitment campaign will have a strong visual presence throughout Canterbury and further afield, with the SCIRT ‘For Real’ bus visiting A&P Shows, malls, major community events and specific events created for the purpose of making prospective employees aware of the opportunity.

“The bus is kitted out with a bank of monitors which can deliver a multi-media introduction to the SCIRT programme and the opportunities presented by the horizontal rebuild of Christchurch.

“An HR hub has been established by SCIRT employers, contractors and training providers to deal with expressions of interest from applicants and match them to training and employment.”

The plan includes a map setting out indicative timeframes for infrastructure repairs in different areas of the city. The work has been prioritised based on a range of factors, with the aim being to first fix the worst-affected areas that impact on the most people.

“This work is one piece of a much bigger and complex city-wide recovery programme,” says Minister Brownlee. “But it is highly significant as underground services need to be rebuilt and future-proofed so that the city’s recovery is founded on a secure infrastructure base.

“It will take another four years to rebuild Christchurch’s horizontal infrastructure and deciding what comes first is not easy. We’ve used a robust model to prioritise the work and that’s what we’re launching today. Of course, things might change as work progresses, but residents can now have a good idea of when we’ll be working in their neighbourhood.”

Mayor Parker says the works schedule underpins confidence in the city’s recovery and reinvestment in the South Island’s largest city.

“People will begin to see a more resilient and forward-looking city emerging from the legacy of the earthquakes,” he says. “The schedule we are launching today gives certainty for the future; but we have already made good progress on the rebuild and work has been ongoing for more than a year now.

“Already, we’ve completed 187 projects worth $73 million including: rebuilding 39km of wastewater pipe – that’s about the distance from central Christchurch to Dunsandel – and laying 92,000 square metres, or 13 rugby fields, of road pavement.”

SCIRT, the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team, is a partnership that has been formed to deliver the infrastructure rebuild. The New Zealand Government and Christchurch City Council are leading and funding the rebuild, which is being delivered in partnership with five key construction contractors.

Details of projects set to begin construction in the next six months are also available on the SCIRT website and will be updated quarterly.

The schedule of works released today will be reviewed quarterly and updated as SCIRT teams learn more about what is required and respond to information from on-going investigations.

Information can be found online at www.strongerchristchurch.govt.nz about the programme of works and about the hundreds of separate projects to repair or rebuild core services that have already been completed or are underway.

Even if residents live in an area where work is not scheduled to begin for some time, they may still see SCIRT teams carrying out temporary repairs to core services. In some cases, urgent rebuilding is already underway in some places where other work is not scheduled for some years. This is because these projects were instigated before SCIRT took responsibility for the infrastructure rebuild.

Up to 150 SCIRT worksites will be active as the rebuild of infrastructure hits its peak in coming months, with projects sequenced to minimise impacts on traffic.
The community will continue to be informed about the infrastructure rebuild through face-to-face briefings, local information displays, letterbox drops, online information, and advertising. There may also be the opportunity for people to influence decision making when planning is underway for above-ground elements on local streets and parks.

Fletcher Construction has a 32 percent share of the “Well Connected Consortium”, with McConnell Dowell, Obayashi Corporation and three design companies, Beca, Parsons Brinkerhoff and Tonkin and Taylor taking the remaining 16 percent.

The project has an expected design and construction cost of approximately $1.3 billion and is expected to be completed over the next five years.

The Well Connected Consortium will form an Alliance with the New Zealand Transport Agency to deliver the project on behalf of the New Zealand Government. The selection of the preferred consortium has been through a competitive process involving a combination of price and non-price attributes and the whole selection process has taken more than a year.

The project involves two parallel tunnels under Avondale Heights that are each 13.1m in diameter and 2.4km long. The existing interchange at Waterview will be reconfigured with extra connectivity.

The scheme involves several road and pedestrian bridges as well as considerable amounts of landscaping, environmental mitigation and a number of community assets.

Fletcher Building’s six divisions – Building Products, Crane Group, Distribution, Infrastructure, Laminates & Panels, and Steel – deliver building products, and construction materials and services, across Australasia, Asia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and the South Pacific.

The 50-plus businesses within its divisions include construction, the manufacture of cement, steel and building products and the world’s largest manufacturer of decorative surfaces and high pressure laminates, the world’s largest manufacturer of steel roof tiles, and a range of market leading businesses in its Australasian home base.

The Fletcher Construction Company is the pre-eminent general contractor in New Zealand and the South Pacific. It has unrivalled depth and breadth of experience across all facets of the construction industry.

Fletcher Building employs more than 11,000 people in a wide range of businesses located in New Zealand, the South Pacific, North America, South America and Australia. Fletcher has established a track-record that underpins the goal of being the construction company of choice for customers, sub-contractors and employees.

The company will be spearheading the transformation of the Auckland waterfront. A focal point of Auckland waterfront’s much talked about ‘party central’, the unique, multi-purpose Cloud venue, with its rib-like framing and glass walls, will accommodate around 6000 people for events, concerts and functions during the Cup.

The exceptionally long system will stretch 12,750km and boast a significantly higher cross sectional capacity than any other trans-Pacific cable.

Intended to meet the increasing demand for international bandwidth in Australia and New Zealand, which has been growing at a rate of 55 percent per year, the Pacific Fibre system is planned for completion in 2014.

The two-cable system will link Australia and New Zealand via a trans-Tasman cable, while connecting New Zealand to the United States via a trans-Pacific cable. The cable landing points will be in Sydney, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; and Los Angeles, California in the United States.

Mark Rushworth, CEO, Pacific Fibre, said demand for international capacity in Australia and New Zealand is sharply increasing and is on track to continue growing for years to come.

Mr. Rushworth said the Pacific Fibre cable will not only provide unsurpassed high speed international connectivity to satisfy the growth in broadband demand, but it will also help Australia and New Zealand realize the potential of both countries’ multi-billion dollar broadband initiatives.

Mike Constable, Director of Business Development, who led the vendor selection and negotiations said the company looks forward to working with TE SubCom, and is confident that its leading 40G and 100G technology, coupled with its extensive experience and marine capabilities will enable it to successfully implement and deliver this landmark project by the scheduled launch in the first quarter of 2014.

Upon completion, the Pacific Fibre system will be the highest-capacity-per-fiber- pair system ever built. The cables will each have two fiber pairs, with an ultimate cable design capacity of 12.8 Tbps.

David Coughlan, President of TE SubCom, said the system will be built with the company’s advanced technology and will enable Pacific Fibre to deliver much-needed international connectivity between Australia, New Zealand and the United States in the immediate future and to continually support the region’s ever-growing international demand.

Pacific Fibre was founded in 2010 and will deliver the longest and most technically advanced undersea cable systems linking Australia, New Zealand and USA. Pacific Fibre is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand.

TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company, is an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services and a leading global supplier for today’s undersea communications requirements.

Donald Clark, outgoing REANNZ CEO, reiterated his excitement to have completed the negotiations, marking substantial and rapid progress from the Key Commercial Terms announced in May.

The contract sets REANNZ and KAREN up for lasting success, and is a critical part of delivering long-term unconstrained high performance networking for the research, education and innovation communities in New Zealand, said Clark.

REANNZ, which was founded by the Crown in 2005, has 129 member organizations with connections at 186 sites across New Zealand. The international capacity agreement will secure their ability to fully participate as part of a global network of over 100 research and education networks.

Mark Rushworth, CEO of Pacific Fibre confirmed the importance of the REANNZ commitment to the Pacific Fibre project, noting that announcing the REANNZ Key Terms in May gave important momentum to the company’s engagement with its vendors, finance partners and other foundation customers.

While today’s news marks another important step, the Company has also made considerable progress across the board. Pacific Fibre thanks REANNZ and all concerned for conducting a very smooth, fair and rapid tender and negotiation process, said Rushworth.

It showed how a well-run Government procurement process can support businesses such as Fibre’s, and the company is offering considerable value to the KAREN community as a result, added Rushworth.

REANNZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand Ltd) is the Crown-owned company that owns and operates the high-speed, unrestricted broadband network for the New Zealand education, research and innovation communities – KAREN (Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network).

REANNZ acts as an expert purchaser of networks and services. As a not-for-profit membership organization, the company works on behalf of its community for the good of its community, aggregating demand to procure the best and most cost effective networks and services from the market to meet their specialist needs. REANNZ currently connects 129 members at 186 member sites.

Pacific Fibre was founded in 2010 and is intending to construct one of the longest and most technically advanced undersea cable systems. The Pacific Fibre cable will connect Australia and New Zealand to the United States, using leading and proven industry technology to achieve the fastest and most efficient route.

According to KiwiRail chief executive Jim Quinn, the winning bidder will not be known until September 2011. Construcciones y Auxiliar is a public firm listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange. The firm manufactures high speed and commuter trains, locomotives, and subway and regional trains.

With more than a century in operations, Construcciones y Auxiliar’s trains are currently running in the United States, Europe, South America, India, east Asia and North Africa.

Hyundai Rotem is a subsidiary of the Hyundai Motor Group. It makes railway, defense and plant systems. Major sales include trains for the Hong Kong and New Delhi metros, automated trains for Canada, commuter trains for regional rail in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and an upgrade and train build for the Philippine National Railways, reported Stuff.

The Rail and Maritime Transport Union is calling for a commitment from KiwiRail that it will enforce local content provisions it placed in the tender documents.

General Secretary Wayne Butson says the union’s preference had always been that new trains were built in New Zealand by New Zealanders, but with this option ruled out, the next step was to ensure the successful overseas contractor involved local businesses where possible, reported Stuff.

According to Mr Quinn, local content use was one of “many factors” taken into account in the two-phased tender process.

A $2 billion upgrade of the Auckland and Wellington metro train services is part of a $4 billion 10-year plan by KiwiRail.

KiwiRail is a statutory corporation operating as a single entity with multiple business units.  KiwiRail Freight provides rail freight services and locomotives for passenger services.

KiwiRail Interislander operates the Cook Strait ferry passenger and freight services.

KiwiRail Passenger provides urban passenger services in Wellington under contract to the Greater Wellington Regional Council through its Tranz Metro business. It also operates long distance passenger train services, TranzCoastal, TranzAlpine, Overlander and Capital Connection through its Tranz Scenic business.

KiwiRail Network (formerly ONTRACK) maintains and improves the rail network and controls the operations of trains on the network.

Fletcher set up the facility for investors to signal their intent to sell. Last week Crane’s directors recommended that shareholders accept Fletcher’s offer after earlier panning the bid. The deal would give Crane shareholders one Fletcher share plus A$3.50 cash for each Crane share. Auckland-based Fletcher’s offer for Crane is still conditional on regulatory and antitrust approval on both sides of the Tasman and the acquisition of 90 per cent of Crane’s ordinary shares.

Under Fletcher’s third supplementary bidder’s statement, eligible brokers will receive a commission for acceptances of the offer which they solicit from Crane retail shareholders. Fletcher Building shares on the ASX were last at A$6.24, while Crane traded at A$9.51.

Fletcher Building Limited is currently the largest listed company in New Zealand, having recently overtaken Telecom New Zealand, with a market capitalization of over NZ$4.5 billion. The company was split from Fletcher Challenge in 2001, formerly New Zealand’s largest business and multinational. The company operates in five separate divisions – Building Products, Steel, Laminates & Panels, Infrastructure, and Distribution.

Crane Group shareholders have been encouraged to accept the New Zealand group’s joint cash and scrip offer, following the publication of an independent expert’s report describing the bid as fair and reasonable. Ernst & Young said Fletcher’s revised offer of $3.50 a share plus one Fletcher share and a 50c special dividend was an acceptable bid because the expert valued Crane at between $9.92 and $11.56 a share.

A successful takeover by Fletcher will allow the New Zealand-based group to get more of its revenue from Australia than New Zealand after the sale, although analysts have reportedly been concerned about the inevitable complications of running an Australia-focused business out of a neighboring country.

Fletcher is still only a 14.9 per cent shareholder but with approval from institutional investors in Crane, the deal may just hike its stake.

The top seven institutions have all lightened off in recent weeks, including Suncorp Metway selling 2.3 million shares, or a third of its stake and Maple-Brown Abbott shifting 2 million shares, or a third of its stake, to the bidder to kick off the action.