Hon Bill English

Minister of Finance
21 September 2016

Major projects portfolio continually improving

The latest release of the Major Projects Performance Report shows the delivery of the Government’s biggest investment projects is continuing to improve Finance Minister Bill English says.

The July 2016 report updates the progress of the 55 most complex, high-value projects that, together, have a whole of life cost of $36 billion.

The projects, which span 33 agencies, are assessed using a five-point scale ranging from Red through to Amber and then Green.

Mr English says in the previous reporting period 84 per cent of projects received assessments that were Amber or better, whereas this period that has increased to 92 per cent.

“While this report is not an assessment of whether a project is good or bad, these results are encouraging. The Government is investing billions of dollars in constructing hospitals, schools, roads and courts, providing equipment for our armed forces and developing ICT capabilities to transform public services. These investments will have a big impact on New Zealanders so it’s critical they are delivered well.”

Mr English says it is not unexpected that some projects will be given a lower rating, particularly those that have just entered the monitoring regime.

“The purpose of the report is to highlight which projects may be facing challenges and need extra support.”

A number of changes have been implemented in this report, including:

• Introducing a pipeline view of investments that don’t yet have approved funding but will be included on the dashboard once a business case has been developed.

• Removing the Christchurch Central Delivery Programme from the report. Instead, reporting on the Canterbury rebuild will be split into the four major Otakaro-led projects; Christchurch Convention Centre, Metro Sports Facility, Avon River Precinct and the East Frame Residential Development.

In future, full reports will be issued once a year. The previous March and November reports will be replaced by interim, high-level updates that will show entries and exits from monitoring, as well as any changes in confidence ratings. This change will save agencies’ compliance costs while retaining appropriate levels of oversight.

“This transparency ensures all agencies are as well-equipped as possible to deliver these projects on time and on budget for the benefit of New Zealanders.”

The full report can be seen here: http://www.treasury.govt.nz/statesector/investmentmanagement/publications/majorprojects

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