Nows a great time for roads, rubbish and resource consents

It’s reassuring to hear the Prime Minister acknowledge more must be done to halt the slide in the economy, says the Employers and Manufacturers Association (Northern).

Chief executive Alasdair Thompson said demand for almost all products and services worldwide is plummeting, and causing business to reduce its investment and jobs, so it is critical for the government to offset that with public sector investment.

“There is no end of infrastructure work with high returns that could be initiated throughout New Zealand,” Mr Thompson said.

“Local government is an important player in this area as there are plenty of places that need sewerage schemes, quality water supply and better rubbish handling systems, not to mention roading, footpaths and other public amenities.

“This smaller scale of capital works should be at the heart of government’s planning right now as this is the type of project required throughout the country.

“Getting resource consents for them is the main stumbling block - the government could set up a way for these to be fast tracked as soon as applications are ready.

“It’s times like these when central and local government need to work closely together to get public sector works moving.”