19 November, 2002 Media Statement

Infrastructure Critical to Growth

Making sure that the right investment signals are sent to infrastructure providers is critical if the government is to achieve its goal of getting New Zealand back into the top half of the OECD said Minister for Transport and Communications Paul Swain this morning

Speaking at a Utilities Investment and Infrastructure Conference Mr Swain said New Zealand’s infrastructure was under increasing pressure. “The Labour-Progressive government is addressing a variety of infrastructure issues, which had been left neglected during the 1990s.

“There was major reform in telecommunications in the government’s first term, there is ongoing reform in energy and major transport reforms will be introduced in the next couple of weeks.

“Under the maxim ‘as much market as possible as much government as necessary’ government has been active in this area but is mindful of the fact that regulatory economics is extraordinarily difficult. What we don’t want is investment decisions being skewed towards a particular player or technology. What we want, as much as possible, is for investment decisions to be made for the right reasons.

“Given the fact that a growing economy puts pressure on infrastructure, this government is dedicated to address the pressures as part of its OECD growth goal,” said Mr Swain.

ENDS

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