Millions in infrastructure projects identified

A Canterbury Development Corporation report on private and public infrastructure projects has identified more than 300 initiatives together worth millions of dollars planned for the next three years.

The report was initiated as a result of the Regional Employment Summit held in Christchurch earlier this year. It has now been presented to the Mayoral Taskforce on Jobs and the CDC Trust Board.

“We recognise that infrastructure is a critical element in enabling a region’s economy to grow. The idea behind this report was to identify infrastructure projects that are not quite ready but that with some central or local government intervention may be brought forward to create jobs,” report author Margot Christeller says.

CDC defines infrastructure as large-scale systems (water, transport, communications and energy), services and facilities that are necessary for economic development. The economic development agency and the Christchurch City Council wanted to capitalise on the Prime Minister’s initiatives to advance regional infrastructure projects in the current economic climate.

The snapshot of infrastructure projects identified between May and July this year was completed with the help of key stakeholders and uncovered more than 50 projects valued over $10million and a few worth more than $100million, including the Southern Motorway extension, broadband roll-out and some irrigation projects.

In addition to short term job opportunities identified during the project, the research suggests that infrastructure with the best long-term economic gain for Canterbury are:

• Energy supply systems
• Water storage and harvesting
• A high quality international link for freight and people
• World-class institutions, educational and research facilities
• Food production opportunities
• Tourism opportunities

“The project has generated positive feedback at local, regional and national levels on CDC’s intention to become more informed and actively involved in infrastructure developments.

An ongoing database of infrastructure initiatives across Canterbury will now be maintained and CDC will focus on working with project sponsors to get these projects underway. One such approach will be the identified projects being fed into the Canterbury v5 challenge – www.canterburyv5.org.nz.

To view the report, visit the Canterbury Development Corporation website at www.cdc.org.nz.

ENDS

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