- Hon Chris Bishop
- Simon Court
Today's introduction of the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Amendment Bill to Parliament marks an important milestone in making it easier for developments to get off the ground through innovative approaches to funding infrastructure, Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Infrastructure Under-Secretary Simon Court say.
"The Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act sought to codify the Milldale success story, where housing developers paved a way to bypass council infrastructure bottlenecks impeding their development," Mr Bishop says.
"By enabling the financing of growth infrastructure up front and then levying the properties that benefit from the development capacity it delivers, the Act lets development proceed free from councils' infrastructure funding and financing constraints.
"However, only two levies have been authorised to date - well short of the intent and ambition of this legislation. We're making it more viable and flexible so councils and developers can get on with building the infrastructure our growing communities need.
"These amendments will remove unnecessary barriers to uptake and broaden project eligibility; they are a key part of Pillar 2 of the Government's Going for Housing Growth Programme which is focused on delivering a range of infrastructure funding and financing tools to help growth pay for growth."
"Developers using this tool cannot be held hostage by councils or infrastructure agencies that try to stall projects by refusing to sign things off. If the legal requirements are met, endorsement must follow. That means faster decisions, fewer vetoes, and more developer-led infrastructure projects being built," Mr Court says.
"This Bill will also extend eligibility from council and developer-led projects to projects delivered by the New Zealand Transport Agency, KiwiRail, and new water service organisations. This will help accelerate the delivery of key growth projects in the infrastructure pipeline while ensuring beneficiaries pay.
"It will also deliver a range of other changes to increase its usability, including removing bureaucratic hurdles, enabling levy deferrals to address affordability concerns, and several other detailed and technical changes."
"These changes, alongside the development levy proposals released for consultation today, play a key part in delivering Going for Housing Growth by contributing to a stack of infrastructure funding and financing tools that facilitate both planned and unplanned infrastructure needed for housing," Mr Bishop says.
