18 Feb 2026
“Encouraging” is how Engineering New Zealand Chief Executive, Dr Richard Templer has described the National Infrastructure Plan.
The Plan sends a clear signal: New Zealand needs a stable, predictable infrastructure pipeline that prioritises critical maintenance and renewals.
“A big focus in the plan are recommendations around getting more value from existing assets and keep them working for longer. These recommendations are well founded and a necessary move in our infrastructure investment focus from ribbon cutting to renewal,” Templer said.
“Minister Bishop’s commitment to working across political parties is a positive sign. For too long, New Zealand’s infrastructure pipeline has been subject to political churn.
“I hope politicians, from all parties, realise that how they work together on the Plan is going to be heavily scrutinised during an election year.”
“The instability of the policy roundabout has real consequences, not only are projects delayed but we end up paying more and risk compromising quality.” The lack of a clear pipelines also drives serious workforce instability. Over the past year, more than 2,000 roles have been lost across 60 engineering firms, and construction sector employment has fallen by 12,000.
“Once infrastructure work picks up, we are going to need a lot of people. Many of these people are going overseas. It's frustrating to see great people heading to Australia because they have got their act together around infrastructure planning”.
Engineering New Zealand looks forward to the parties’ response to the Plan in June and will continue to support efforts to deliver on its recommendations.
