It’s been another exceptional week for government activity making its presence felt across road transport and the supply chain.

There is a huge amount going on, and this is where NRC delivers enormous value for our members – making sure your voice is heard in Wellington and at the local councils.

On Tuesday I joined the other motor vehicle association Chief Execs to meet with Minister Bishop for the first time in his capacity as Minister of Transport. He’s been in the portfolio for less than a month, but is already up to speed with the key issues facing the industry, and clearly enjoying it.

We asked whether to expect any changes from the Land Transport Government Policy Statement which sets all of the priorities – the Minister confirmed no changes are needed, the focus is on maintaining momentum. This position was welcomed as it’s critical that road funding revenue reform and regulatory modernisation get delivered at pace.

Having a Minister of Transport who is also the Minister of Infrastructure, Associate Minister of Finance, Minster responsible for RMA reform and Leader of the House is also an advantage. Transport touches everything, and Minister Bishop has good visibility across a lot of it via these extensive portfolios.

The Minister and his government colleagues have been especially busy this week, with a flurry of key announcements – here are some of the key ones for transport.

Pipeline of infrastructure projects growing – whenever I meet with members who work in the construction sector they all say the same thing – get the government to bring forward construction works. The good news is this is coming. This week’s announcement highlighted there are over 1500 infrastructure projects currently under construction, worth $48.6 billion. A further $107.9 billion have a confirmed funding source. Our message remains the same – these projects are a lifeline to construction and transport operators who have downed tools, it’s time to get inventive about getting construction underway as quickly as possible. Every day of waiting the sector loses more people overseas, hollowing out our capacity. Read more here.

To help with speeding up the pipeline, Land Information Minister Chris Penk has announced an overhaul of the Public Works Act. The Public Works Act, among other things, makes the rules about how and when land can be acquired fairly from private ownership to build public infrastructure. When I ask NZTA and Council bosses what the longest part of pre-build is, property acquisition is at the top of the list, ahead of even the RMA process. There are a lot of boxes ticked in the proposed overhaul of the Act – allowing agencies like NZTA to enter into direct land purchasing agreements instead of having to go through the Land Information NZ, sharpening what the Environment Court can and can’t focus on, removing duplication with the RMA and improving collaboration between agencies. All good stuff, all very much needed. Read more here.

Energy resilience is also being looked at, with Resources, Regional Development and Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones mulling that Marsden Point could become a “Special Economic Zone” for energy. As one of the world’s most remote countries, fuel resilience is of critical importance. We’ve felt this first hand in recent history, with 2017’s refinery to Auckland pipeline out of action for two weeks, causing jet fuel to be rationed and petrol and diesel distribution constrained. New Zealand will always be dependent on shipping of fuel, refined or crude (if a refinery were ever established again – a long shot given the cost), but resilience can be built up through increasing on-shore storage to see us through any supply chain disruptions. Geo-politicital and natural disasters can easily disrupt our fragile supply chain connections, so getting this right is critical. Read more here.

Road building under contract build spotlight – NZTA’s Andrew Clark, the National Manager Maintenance and Operations, has been busy working on sharpening how NZTA and other RCAs contract out road building works. He has written an excellent article detailing how NZTA is changing their contracting model. I am continually impressed by the level of technical expertise our members have when it comes to road building. As the most frequent users of the network, this expertise should be no surprise. I have enjoyed many a conversation on road surface quality, degradation post-works, bitumen from Marsden Point, and approaches to traffic management. It’s fair to say these are not always favourable, and consistency of effort around the country is lacking. Andrew has written a great article on how NZTA are tackling these issues through an enhanced contracting model. Close to my heart is a renewed focus on “management, surveillance and quality assurance” of contractors, using professional service providers to support NZTA. This is a very insightful read on all things road building and a worthwhile five-minute read. Read more here.

A six-year wait for Auckland’s City Rail Link crossings – NRC generated significant media coverage late last week with our call for speeding up level crossing replacements at Takanini to enable the City Rail Link (CRL). Minister Bishop announced $200m to support the building of “grade separations” – a fancy way of saying bridges or underpasses for vehicles at railway lines. While this funding is welcomed, the frustration from transport operators surrounds that they are up to six years away. Properties for the building have not even been purchased yet. The CRL build was started in 2015 – there is no excuse for this. NRC is a strong supporter of the City Rail Link, it will be a game changer for public transport and help reduce journey times on the motorway network. But road freight congestion is already bad in Takanini – a key light industry centre in Auckland. Blithely accepting worsening congestion over the next six years is unacceptable.

Let’s hope the Public Works Act changes help speed up the process.

– By Justin Tighe-Umbers, chief executive, National Road Carriers