A period of rapid change has left the infrastructure sector with new agencies, new tools and emerging bi-partisan support for infrastructure delivery – and raises new opportunities for those considering infrastructure projects.
Law firm Bell Gully has released a report exploring recent regulatory changes that are central to efforts to reshape New Zealand’s infrastructure investment landscape and, ultimately, seek to address the nation’s infrastructure deficit.
“It has been an extremely fast-moving environment, but a lot of the tools and mechanisms aimed at attracting investment to the sector are now in place or taking shape,” said Bell Gully partner Sarah Anderson-Butler, one of the authors of The Big Picture: Infrastructure and a specialist in funding and financing. “Now is the time to push forward with infrastructure projects.”
The report canvasses a raft of changes that occurred as 2024 drew to a close. These included the release of guidelines for market-led proposals, aimed at encouraging private sector participants to bring their own ideas to help address the infrastructure deficit, a new framework for funding and financing, and a new framework for public-private partnerships, which includes updates to policy settings, the PPP model, and the process used by procuring agencies.
Guidance on ‘strategic leasing’ was also released in December, to help government agencies consider leasing assets for public service delivery where the private sector may be better placed to own and maintain relevant infrastructure, the same month a resource management bill impacting decision-making timeframes for infrastructure was tabled.
“With all this in place the New Zealand infrastructure sector is well-placed to step up and seize the opportunities that lie ahead,” said Anderson-Butler.
The Big Picture Infrastructure: changing tides and new opportunities also outlines the roles of the central agencies that will be critical in this space. These include new agencies such as National Infrastructure Funding and Financing, a new body responsible for acting as the Crown’s ‘shopfront’ to facilitate private sector investment in infrastructure, and Invest New Zealand, a dedicated agency to promote foreign direct investment in New Zealand, including infrastructure.