NZ Government Passes Bill to Ease Infrastructure Funding

The New Zealand government has passed the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Amendment Bill, providing developers and councils with more innovative tools to fund and finance new infrastructure.

The bill is part of the Going for Housing Growth programme, which aims to tackle barriers preventing the delivery of new homes and projects that will grow the economy and create jobs. One key obstacle addressed in this bill is the lack of borrowing capacity among councils to deliver essential infrastructure such as roads and water services.

The Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act allows infrastructure to be financed by private investors, repaid over time through levies on properties benefiting from the infrastructure. The changes passed today will make the act faster, simpler, and more practical to use by removing unnecessary barriers, streamlining the levy approval process, and broadening the range of infrastructure projects that can be funded using this model.

The bill also allows ongoing operational and maintenance costs to be funded through levy revenue, incentivizing a whole-of-life design focus to maximize value-for-money. This will make the model more attractive for future projects and give developers greater certainty, reducing delays and helping get more infrastructure projects underway.