Construction Sector Welcoming Kiwibuild

KiwiBuild will help the construction sector end its damaging boom-bust cycles and develop sustainable capacity and a better-qualified workforce, says Labour’s Building & Construction spokesperson Raymond Huo.

“KiwiBuild has been enthusiastically welcomed by the construction sector. The commitment to building 100,000 new affordable houses and the resulting spin-offs with apprenticeships, jobs and a $2 billion a year boost to the economy will provide certainty and opportunity.

“Some of the sector members I spoke to after the conference told me they will be able to move from a  ‘property speculation’ philosophy to a ‘property development’ approach, simply because the certainty of KiwiBuild will allow them to increase their capacity and train more staff as they rise to tackle the big challenges we have ahead.”

Raymond Huo says it is ironic that Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson received a detailed PWC report on the construction sector and these issues a year ago.

“Maurice Williamson has sat on a PWC report that specifically referred to boom and bust cycles, the volatile and unstable workforce and the inadequacy of long-term planning and procurement by Government, for over a year.

“Maurice Williamson has completely failed to address those issues, Labour’s KiwiBuild will go a long way to smoothing things out for that industry.”