4th August

NZ Contractors Will Deliver

New Zealand road contractors have welcomed the Ministry of Economic Development’s report into the ‘buildability’ of the Auckland transport package and are determined to maintain their track record of delivering as they have consistently done over the years.

“Over the past nine months we have been working hard on a strategy that will ensure that the roading industry can deliver the Government’s ‘Investing for Growth’ programme,” says Chris Olsen, Chief Executive of Roading New Zealand.

“We have been working closely within our industry training organisation, InfraTrain, and also with WINZ, the Immigration Service, Transit and Transfund to ensure all constraints are minimised.

During the initial development of the ‘Investing for Growth’ package, potential constraints were identified including possible shortages on skills and labour in the industry and difficulties in the planning, consenting and contracting process.

However, the report released by the Ministry of Economic Development has found that while ‘buildability’ constraints do exist they are not as great as first feared.

“We have made significant progress in removing blockages that could prevent the industry from being able to deliver,” says Olsen. “Especially with increased certainty of funding through a ten year works programme and ensuring that this programme is ramped up in a way that all parts of the sector have time to gear up.”

Successful recruitment programmes with the unemployed and school leavers have been developed, and there is the possibility of a pilot recruitment programme for immigrants. Some changes have also been made to Transfund and Transit’s procurement procedures to speed up the tendering processes.

“Work will continue over the next year to progress these issues further and also to make the industry more attractive,” says Olsen.

ENDS

Background

Roading New Zealand (previously called the NZ Pavement and Bitumen Contractors Association, also known as the BCA) was launched at a function at Parliament, hosted by the Hon Pete Hodgson, last month.

Roading New Zealand represents the majority of New Zealand's roading construction companies. Member companies currently contract and/or build up to 90% of Transit’s work and 70% of Territorial Authority roading work, and have a combined turnover of approximately $1.4 billion per annum.

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