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News
Back to the news list Rural communities should get a piece of the infras
3 July 2020 - Media Release - Stuff NZ
Some of the $3 billion post-Covid infrastructure budget announced this week should go towards projects in rural communities, says Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard.

"It’s understandable that the first 12 predominantly urban projects announced this week emphasise jobs and kick-starting the post-Covid rebuild.

"But at the same time we should also have an eye to building longer-term resilience and putting in infrastructure that underpins increased primary industry production," he said.

The $3b had been divvied up into four separate pots: $460m for environmental projects, $464m for housing and development, $670m for community and social development and $708m for transport.

Cabinet approved 150 projects after 1924 submissions for funding were received. The Government hoped the infrastructure boom would create 20,000 jobs.

Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones announced funding for 12 projects on Wednesday.

As it divvies up the $3 billion â??shovel readyâ?? infrastructure spending pie, the government should reserve a few slices for the rural areas that drive our export earnings, Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard says.
MURRAY WILSON/STUFF
As it divvies up the $3 billion â??shovel readyâ?? infrastructure spending pie, the government should reserve a few slices for the rural areas that drive our export earnings, Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard says.
They included $22m for Auckland City Mission’s HomeGround, which would create 80 apartments which would house 2000 people over the next 25 years, a $55m investment in road and stormwater infrastructure in the Bay of Plenty – which would pave the way for 1,100 sections to be developed – and $15m for the final section of a coastal pathway in Christchurch.

Other projects would be announced in the coming days, the Government said.

Hoggard said some of the $210m earmarked for climate resilience and flood protection could be used to boost water storage.

Several regions had gone through some of the worst droughts on record, and climate change would compound these challenges, Hoggard said.

"Putting in infrastructure to store water when it’s plentiful is an investment in future options, flexibility and resilience not just for agriculture and horticulture, but all industries and townships," he said

Rural roads and bridges needed upgrades, alongside better transport connections that rural and provincial communities "heavily relied upon".

He noted the poor condition of many rural roads, and a number of bridges that had exceeded their designed lifetimes.

Limited broadband capacity in rural areas could be improved to level the digital divide with money from the community development budget, which would also encourage the uptake of new technology on farms, he said.

"Not just more communications hubs in provincial towns."

He also wanted to see money from the energy pot put aside o improve the reliability of the rural electricity supply.

Farm and community scale power generation would help the country move towards the goal of 100 per cent renewable energy.

About $400m from the fund had not been allocated, but set aside as contingency.

The projects were in addition to the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme and existing Provincial Growth Fund investments.

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