Summary

• Much of the infrastructure we will need over the next 30 years already exists. Strong long-term asset management and investment planning is essential to guide how it is maintained, renewed and expanded.
• New Zealand was ranked fourth to last in the OECD for asset management, with visible symptoms of weak practices including sewage leaks in hospitals, leaky classrooms and mouldy army barracks.
• The system needs to be strengthened, including a requirement for capital-intensive agencies to produce long-term asset management and investment plans that identify renewal needs and future investment requirements.
• These plans should be credible, fundable, scenario-based and aligned with the Government’s fiscal strategy.
• As much as 60 cents in every dollar of future infrastructure spending will need to go towards maintenance and renewals, making this New Zealand’s biggest long-term investment challenge.
• Data on maintenance and renewals spending is often incomplete, but available information suggests many central government assets are wearing out faster than they are being renewed, leading to deteriorating service levels.
• Infrastructure is vulnerable to natural hazard events and malicious threats, including earthquakes, flooding, cyberattacks and technology-driven disruptions.
• Investments to build resilience and protect against hazards and threats should be proportionate, targeted to the most critical assets, and cost-effective.