Statement by Adrian Wimmers, Director, Infrastructure, KPMG in response to the National Infrastructure Plan:
“We see the just announced National Infrastructure Plan as a significant step forward for New Zealand. Having got this far, there are some tangible opportunities that should now be pursued. The focus must now be on how to deliver innovation and sustainable value for money if New Zealand is to get the best possible answer to its infrastructure challenges.
“Government should pursue its focus on creating a coherent infrastructure investment framework that can pull good projects, or bundles of projects, to market including working with the private sector through alliancing, contracting out or Public Private Partnerships to drive innovation. This adds up to a stronger coordination role for the National Infrastructure Unit, which should save time and cost compared to every department and local authority going it alone.
“To encourage existing providers to gear up and to attract new entrants into New Zealand, the Government must now look at the following.
- Providing increased certainty about projects, timing, and the scope for innovation (output rather than input focus).
- Investigating whether small projects can be bundled or staged in some way to reduce cost and increase market. appetite (this could include central government helping to package local government projects).
- Providing increased certainty about the procurement methods to be used, as these drive bid costs.
- Creating a project pipeline so that new entrants can develop a business case for entering the market."
More clarity required on sustainable infrastructure construction
“More clarity is needed on the Government’s plan around sustainable infrastructure construction. A sustainable and long term view is essential to shift the public sector’s thinking from short term cheapest cost to whole-of-life resource use efficiency. A long term view makes it easier to look at better up-front capital decisions, whereas a short term, lowest construction cost perspective does not allow for it and it ends up hitting taxpayers in the pocket hard over the longer term.
“The Government’s mantra has been better, smarter public services for the same or less money. This starts at the point infrastructure is designed and built, as it will determine the costs of the related public services for the next 30 to 50 years. A successful case-study is how the Melbourne convention centre found that a 6-star-Green Star rating not only increased tourism and minimised environmental impact, it also significantly reduces whole-of-life operating costs. We need to be looking harder for this kind of win-win in New Zealand.”
“We hope that the Government will continue to be flexible about investigating a wide range of procurement and risk sharing options, and about creating bespoke solutions to complex problems where necessary. What matters is what works, and it’s important to take the models we see working overseas and make them relevant to New Zealand’s specific circumstances.”
For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact:
Adrian Wimmers, Director, Infrastructure Services, KPMG on 021 221 4313 or
Sneha Paul, KPMG Communications on 021 243 8997