Beyond the RMA
Our country is judged by the reliability of our infrastructure and it shapes our everyday prosperity. Sustainable infrastructure is the foundation of any prosperous community. Without it we cannot ultimately maintain the quality of life to which all New Zealanders aspire.
Following decades of underinvestment, the nation now faces a step change in investment in strategic infrastructure. We are grappling with unresolved issues of security in energy supply and transmission. $22 billion investment is required over the next 10 years to bring existing water infrastructure up to scratch. 22% of us have uncertain water quality and 4% have contaminated water supply. Nationally the transport funding gap stands at $6-8 billion. The cost of traffic congestion in Auckland alone is over $1 billion per year. 25% of this is carried by the manufacturing and distribution sectors. We rank second in the world for internet use. Yet less than half of us (37%) have access at home and we are at the bottom of OECD world rankings for high speed broadband connection uptake.
Past experience has show that with good long term asset management planning, and with extensive and robust consultation processes, well developed infrastructure proposals can and do proceed successfully through the RMA process. But the costs are often extremely high, and, in some cases, projects can take up to a decade or more before they are finally approved. The key question is whether existing processes are adequate to deal with the level of national infrastructural investment that is now required.
This paper looks challenges the RMA and other legislation pose for sustainable infrastructure development in New Zealand. It canvasses the approach taken in Ireland and some of the Australian states, each of whom are addressing the same infrastructural challenges as New Zealand. Finally the paper set outs some options “Beyond the RMA” to enable timely investment in infrastructure of national importance.
