Released on the 25th of June 2025 the Draft National Infrastructure Plan provides a warts and all summary of the current state of our infrastructure along with nineteen recommendations to address the shortfalls.

Firstly, what is New Zealand doing well. We rank near the top of the OECD for Infrastructure spend as a percentage of GDP, spending 5.8% or around $4,500 per person per year on building and maintaining infrastructure.

Unfortunately, that seems to be the only thing we’re getting right — the remaining 164 pages highlight the many issues that mean that $4,500 isn’t being spent effectively, and what needs to change to fix that.  

New Zealand does pose some unique challenges. Our population density is low and New Zealand is geologically young with challenging topography. This makes building the infrastructure required to support a growing economy more complex than in other countries such as Australia where the entire New Zealand population would fit into the Greater Sydney area.

New Zealand is in the top 3 OECD countries for reported natural hazard damage. Central government spent at least $33 billion on natural hazards between 2010 and 2025, and many public assets are uninsured.

We have also gone out of our way to put barriers in place that add complexity and un-productive costs. A whopping $1.3 billion is spent every yearon consenting alone. Not a surprise when you have 1,175 land use zones spread across 68 territorial authorities. Compare this to Japan a country with similar geology and topography that has 13 land use zones.

Central Government owns 40% of the total infrastructure and spends almost 50% of the annual infrastructure investment.

However, over half of the capital-intensive agencies do not have robust, comprehensive asset registers in place or adequate plans for maintaining existing infrastructure. Half of the proposals for infrastructure investment in the 2023 and 2024 budgets did not have a business case.

Anyone that has operated a successful business knows that every asset has a finite life and needs a plan to ensure it lasts as long as possible as fit for the purpose it was bought to do. Likewise, every dollar spent needs to be justified and tied to a purpose. It is no surprise reading the document prepared by the Commission that New Zealand is facing crumbling existing infrastructure and questions as to if the money is being invested in the right areas.

The plan makes 19 recommendations in four key areas.

Establish affordable and sustainable funding – 5 recommendations.

Clear the way for infrastructure – 7 recommendations.

Start with maintenance – 3 recommendations.

Right-size new investment – 4 recommendations.

The Minister for Infrastructure Chris Bishop is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say. Often we hear the complaints –  now is the time to have your voice heard on how to get better infrastructure.

National Road Carriers will be putting through our own submission – I strongly encourage you to do the same.

Our future is at stake.

Justin Tighe-Umbers, Chief Executive, National Road Carriers Assn