New $200m Regional Strategic Partnership Fund to support economic development plans developed by regions

Existing PGF projects to be progressed over next term, unallocated PGF sector funding will be considered for redistribution to new regionally developed plans.

Continuing the Provincial Development Unit to develop and implement plans

$42 billion of capital committed to stimulate the Covid recovery and create jobs

Labour will continue to prioritise investment in our regions with a new $200 million strategic partnership fund established to accelerate the development of local plans by regional economic development agencies while continuing to roll out individually funded PGF projects over the next term of parliament.

The Government has also allocated $42 billion for capital projects such as new roads, schools, hospitals and shovel-ready projects across the country to help stimulate growth and create jobs as a key plank in our Covid recovery.

“Investing in our regions has been a priority for our Government over the last three years and will be a feature of our Covid recovery,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“The Coalition Government allocated over $3 billion through the PGF to boost growth in our regions. Approved projects are at a variety of stages of implementation, and will take some time to come to full fruition. We are committed to seeing individually approved projects through to completion.

“Any PGF funding that has been allocated to sectors but is not yet tagged to a specific project will be reviewed with a view to redistributing it to the regional plans.

“The PGF has delivered significant support into our regions, but the fund was only ever resourced for three years. We now want to take the lessons from this support and work to develop a new approach to regional development. We want this to be driven by regions from the ground up.

“Every region has a role to play in our recovery and they know what their own strengths are – our new more targeted $200 million fund will support them to put their tailored plans in place. Over the course of the next term we will work with regions on the further development and funding of these plans, particularly in light of the COVID-19 recovery and rebuild.

“There are a lot of recovery bright spots in our regions. For example, the Hawke’s Bay,

West Coast and Te Tai Tokerau all have strong plans which we will support to achieve their goals.

“A new Labour Government will continue to deliver a strong pipeline of capital investment with $42 billion of projects that will drive our economic recovery already funded and to be rolled out over the coming years,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“Backing our regions for recovery is one part of our plan to keep New Zealand moving, complementing our long-term infrastructure plan to provide a pipeline of projects across state housing, transport, schools hospitals, waste and water, and our free apprenticeships and trades training to build a workforce for the future,” Phil Twyford said.

“We stand on our record of investment in our regions, including spending $8 billion through the New Zealand Upgrade programme. This includes more than $200m to improve Wellington’s rail network, including work on the Wairarapa line and a second platform for the station here in Featherston.”

© Scoop Media