Chris Bishop: Infrastructure Minister says first list of 149 fast-tracked projects won't be the last

The Government's signalling the first list of projects to be fast-tracked won't be the last.

149 projects are being lined up to receive the fast-track treatment.

It would see the building of up to 55,000 new homes, 180 kilometres of roads, and 11 mining projects.

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop told Mike Hosking the advisory group recommended 342 projects to go through to the next stage - but they didn't have capacity for all.

“We’ve gone for the highest quality applications. Not to say the ones that missed out are not worthy projects — many of them are — and they’ll be other opportunities for those projects to be fast tracked.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We also got more detail around this fast track plan.
We've now got one hundred and forty nine projects that
have got the fast track approval to move to the
next stage. They came from a list of three hundred
and eighty four. Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishops with us on
all of this. Very good morning to you. Good morning
the three hundred and eighty four. Originally were these just
tire kickers or are there three hundred and eighty four
that if you had the right frame of mind, we're

(00:21):
actually half decent ideas that could probably enhance the country
if we had the money the time.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
The Energy Well put it this way, the Advisory Group
recommended three hundred and forty two of them to go
through to the next stage. We've taken one hundred and
forty nine of them, and the main reason for that
is we just don't have the capacity in the system
to get all of these permittents, so we've gone for
the highest quality application. It's not to say the ones
that missed out are not worthy projects. Many of them are,

(00:46):
and there'll be other opportunities for those projects be fast
tracked as well, if indeed they choose to apply. But
these hundred and forty nine are going to be fantastic
for the country. Fifty five thousand new houses consented, one
hundred and forty three thousand tons of aquaculture around the country,
one hundred and eighty kilometers of new road, rail and
public transport connections. Twenty two new renewable energy projects with

(01:07):
three kickawats of power. This is what the country needs.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Okay twenty eight Inrkland twenty two and Cantere nineteen, Wykata fifteen,
Otigo twelve and the Bay of plenty eleven and Wellington
eleven and Northland? Did it get a geographic waiting or not?

Speaker 2 (01:21):
The bulk of projects came in those regions, as you say,
and we did try and make sure that there was
a regional spread around the country. Part of the reason
for doing this is to get growth into every knock
and cranny of New Zealand, to get unclogged the arteries
of growth in the economy, and we want to make
sure that regional New Zealand benefits as well. So we

(01:42):
did apply a regional lens to it.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
I've got no problem with it. But how come a
roof on Eden Park fits into this? I mean, it
doesn't change anything having a roof on Eden Park.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Well, they applied and they were recommended by the advisory
group as well. One of the projects that should go forward.
We put it, put it through. Just because something gets
consent doesn't mean it's necessarily funded. I want to make
that really clear. There's a bunch of people out there saying, oh,
the government's prioritized, thed and back. Just because something might
have consent to be done doesn't necessarily mean it ends
up getting funding. That's true both of the private sector projects,

(02:15):
but also the public sector projects as well. So consenting
is different from funding. But let's be really clear. The
problem was heasal on at the moment, or has been
so many years, is that everyone gets their capital together,
then they go off and spend five years trying to
get resource consents to something, and in the meantime the
economics have changed and all of that. We're trying to
create a pipeline of projects around the country, get all
of these as many projects as possible consented, so that

(02:37):
when the funding becomes available, you don't have to fart
around for five years in the environment courts. If you
just go and get on with it, how long.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Do you have to fight around for because you haven't
even passed the law yet.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
We'll pass it by the end of the year. The
expert panels will be set up early in twenty twenty five,
and our expectation is that some of these projects will
be consented in a manner of months that compares to
the status quo, which could be a matter of years
and years and year. There are quarries in this country
that have spent years fighting to get consent. There are
housing developments as many people know that spend years and

(03:06):
years tied up in red tape. The same with wind farms.
It's just nuts that it takes six to seven years
sometimes to consent a wind farm. We need these projects
and the obstruction economy is a big part of why
we are a slow growth economy. We've been in recession
for two years. We've got to get out of that.
The only way out of it is to grow. There,
grow our way out, and fast tracks a big part
of that.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
Okay, what do you say to that. I'm watching forest
and bird over the weekend, and yet again, you're never
going to win this, are you. I mean, there are
people who simply do not want progress, and that's just life.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Look, there are a lot of eights out there who
don't want progress, But I think most reasonable in New
Zealand except that if we want a standard of living
that is better than what we have now, if we
want material comforts that other countries have that we don't have,
if we want better healthcare, better education services, if we
want this a better standard of living, and we want
a more prosperous economy, we have to build things. You know,
quarries are more autant part of a modern day economy.

(04:02):
Public transport and roads connect us to where we need
to go. Renewable energy is something. We've got an energy
shortage right now. You know, we need more power in
this country, and we have a housing crisis, so we
need thousands more houses, and we have an infrastructure deficit
that I think everyone knows about. So the only way
to address those things is to get on and build

(04:22):
stuff that it addresses all of those deficits, and that
requires fundamental planning reform. It's just too difficult to do
things in this country. And I think most reasonable people
actually know that, and that's why we have fast Track
and that's why we're cracking on with it.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
Good stuff. Appreciate it. Chris Bishop who is the Infrastructure Minister.
I saw him on Friday, was watching a press conference
of his with eerk A. Stanford, who's talking about standardized
classrooms pumping them out. Then yesterday is pumping out the
fast track, so it's not like he's not working.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
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