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Government's $6b announcement has nothing new, Labour says

Government's $6b announcement has nothing new, Labour says

RNZ News21 hours ago
Labour's Infrastructure spokesperson Kieran McAnulty.
Photo:
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The Labour Party is pouring cold water on the government's latest announcement that $6 billion worth of infrastructure work will start before Christmas.
Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop on Sunday said
billions of dollars' worth of significant plans would get underway
in the coming months.
Those projects included the Hutt Valley Te Whare Ahuru Acute Mental Health Unit, interim works for the State Highway 22 Drury Corridor Upgrade and the Brougham Street upgrade in Christchurch.
But Labour's Infrastructure spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said all the projects the government identified had previously been announced, some by the last government, before being put on hold.
He told
Morning Report
the infrastructure sector needed certainty of not just projects that had been announced but new projects.
"A bit of certainty to keep their jobs, keep people in work or attract them back."
Infrastructure New Zealand's Nick Leggett said after a year of layoffs there were signs of confidence returning, but the sector needed consistency.
"What we have got to ensure is that pipeline doesn't pause, that irrespective of future changes, economic changes, changes in government, we need stronger commitments from both sides of Parliament to keep projects going," he said.
Leggett said that included improving already built infrastructure and new projects.
Bishop said there were almost $4b of roading projects in the list of work getting underway, including the Ōtaki to north of Levin expressway, the Melling interchange, the Waihoehoe Road upgrade, and the new Ōmanawa bridge on SH29.
The projects would create thousands of jobs and lift productivity by getting people and freight to their destinations quickly and safely, Bishop said.
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