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Even engineers need a break.
10 September 2018
Civil Contractors welcomes new
infrastructure agency
Civil Contractors New Zealand has
welcomed the announcement from Infrastructure
Minister Hon Shane Jones
that a new independent infrastructure
agency would be established to improve
government oversight into the
infrastructure and civil construction
industry.
CCNZ chief executive Peter Silcock
says a new entity to provide oversight
could potentially be of huge benefit,
helping to resolve recent uncertainty
over coming workflow following the
change of government transport and
infrastructure priorities, as well as unifying
the coming efforts to improve
consistency and visibility in New Zealand’s
infrastructure investment.
“The proposed new infrastructure
agency has the potential to provide infrastructure
pipeline visibility, certainty
and prioritisation across Government,
as well as a clear and integrated action
plan to deliver the pipeline”, Mr Silcock
says.
“We hope the new agency will also
provide a centre of procurement excellence
to improve the quality and reduce
the costs of procurement, leading to
greater certainty for Kiwi civil contractors
and better ability to invest in our
people, plant and systems.”
He says because of these factors, the
creation of the new agency would also
have wider benefits for New Zealand,
streamlining project delivery, ensuring
projects were completed on time and
on budget, and providing contractors
more certainty around projects so they
would be able to make more resource
available for the employment and development
of their staff.
The creation of this entity would come
at a “critical juncture” for New Zealand,
with coming plans for KiwiBuild and
proposed record levels of investment
in infrastructure, Mr Silcock says.
The delivery of critical community infrastructure
water, transport, energy
and communications must be a key
strategic priority for this government,
given its stated goals, he said.
“This is a critical time for New Zealand,
with opportunities to achieve fantastic
outcomes for our communities – or
to squander more money than ever
before. It is an essential time for Government
to work hand-in-hand with industry,
and an independent agency can
facilitate this.”
Measuring
wellbeing – not
just GDP
One of New Zealand’s most
established economic research
agencies, BERL, has explored
the Government’s intention for
a Wellbeing Budget next year at
its inaugural annual wānanga in
Wellington.
The 2019 Budget has been
heralded by the Minister of
Finance as The Wellbeing Budget.
BERL chief economist Dr Ganesh
Nana sees the wānanga as an
opportunity to examine what a
wellbeing Budget might mean
in practical terms, especially
when a budget is more normally
understood to be all about dollars
and cents.
“We are looking forward to
hearing from the Ministers of
Finance, Māori Development and
local government on their perspectives
on wellbeing and to
address related questions,” Dr
Nana says.
“The government says it is
committed to putting people's
wellbeing and the environment at
the heart of its policies, including
reporting against a wider set of
wellbeing indicators in future
Budgets.
“In terms of why the change, a
shift away from GDP seems well
warranted. Nevertheless, there
are many economists who hold
onto GDP like a security blanket,
reluctant to venture outside
their comfort zone and into the
unknown."
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