Smith Nick: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Smith Nick: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 22 August 2012. Volume:683;Page:4619. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
1. 
Hon Dr NICK SMITH (National—Nelson) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: What progress is the Government making in its infrastructure investment programme? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Over the last four Budgets the Government has directly invested more than $5 billion in ultra-fast broadband hospitals schools rails and roads. The planned spend over the next 4 years is around $18 billion in part to be paid from the Future Investment Fund. The Government has set out to give businesses more certainty and confidence about infrastructure provision and last year we released a second National Infrastructure Plan which is improving planning and decision-making processes around infrastructure investment. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: How will infrastructure investment in those key areas like the electricity grid ultra-fast broadband the electrifying of rail and its turn-round programme the upgrade of State highways and new water projects contribute to the Government’s broader priorities in such a tight fiscal environment? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: Despite the tight fiscal environment the Government has laid out a 7 to 10-year programme of investment and most of the funding for that investment is locked in. Despite the tight fiscal environment we believe that investing for the future growth we are confident the New Zealand economy will generate is vitally important. 
Hon Dr Nick Smith 
: What steps is the Government taking to improve the quality of managing New Zealand’s tens of billions of dollars that it has invested in that infrastructure? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: That is a good question because often the focus on infrastructure is about new projects but of course most infrastructure is already in existence and there are much larger efficiencies to be gained from managing the current infrastructure better than there are from better scrutiny of the new projects. In the 2011 plan the Government identified six aspects of infrastructure management that are important: stronger investment analysis increased resilience clearer accountability for performance broader funding mechanisms consistent regulation and better coordination. We expect to be improving each of these aspects of the management of infrastructure. Probably one of the challenges coming up is to increase resilience of infrastructure by dealing with new earthquake standards that may flow from the royal commission of inquiry in Christchurch. 
Hon David Parker 
: How does the Minister justify spending billions on projects with low benefit-cost ratios at a time when he is having to borrow billions? 
Hon BILL ENGLISH 
: The Government is not investing in projects with low benefit-cost ratios. If the member is referring to roading investment we are very pleased with the roads of national significance plan which gives businesses the public and the infrastructure industry the certainty that over the next 10 years we will be spending billions on upgrading our roads.