- Hon Chris Bishop
- Hon Shane Jones
On the first day of the country's first Infrastructure Investment Summit, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones are pleased to welcome the first completed applications accepted by the EPA under the Fast-track Approvals Act to have projects considered by expert consenting panels.
"The Fast-track Approvals scheme opened for applications just over a month ago. Today, the EPA has announced that three major projects have been assessed as complete to go to expert panels," Mr Bishop says.
These first three projects are:
- Bledisloe North Wharf and Fergusson North Berth Extension: The Ports of Auckland have said that this wharf extension would enable larger cruise ships to berth, and the expansion would increase New Zealand's importing and exporting capacity.
- Delmore: This is a development which includes 1,250 residential dwellings in Auckland, claiming to contribute approximately $249.5 million to GDP and generate/support 1,870 full time jobs.
- Maitahi Village: Includes the planned development in Nelson of around 180 residential dwellings (50 being Iwi-led housing), a commercial centre, and a retirement village with approximately 194 townhouses and 36 in-care facility units, with the applicant saying it could have a total economic impact on local business activity of $308 million.
"This is proof to those attending the NZ Investment Summit today that this Government is serious about removing our structural barriers to growth, and doing its part to make infrastructure quicker, easier, and cheaper to build in New Zealand," Mr Bishop says.
"While this is only the first step in the process, it's great to see such a wide range of projects in this first tranche - including housing, infrastructure, and involving Iwi/Māori.
"New Zealanders are sick of the red and green tape holding back development, and are excited to take advantage of our new scheme that cuts through this thicket of obstruction, so we can grow our economy and benefit the lives of all Kiwis."
"Today's news shows there is potential, and demand, for a streamlined approvals regime like this to get significant, economy-enhancing pieces of infrastructure built in New Zealand. Projects like this are critical to growing our country's economy, meaning more jobs and higher wages - making all New Zealanders better off," Mr Jones says.
"The three projects were included as listed projects in the Fast-track Approvals Act last year, and were able to apply for consideration by expert panels from 7 February when the Fast-track applications portal opened.
"Now that the projects are deemed complete by the Fast-track team, a competing applications test will be undertaken, and provided there are no competing applications identified, an expert consenting panel will be established to make decisions on the projects and impose any necessary environmental conditions."
Editor's note:
- The Fast-track team will now check if there are competing applications or existing resource consents for the same activity.
- Once it is determined that there are no competing application or existing resource consents for the same activity, the next step is for the Fast-track team to provide the application to the panel convener.
- The panel convener appoints a panel of up to four members for each project, generally chaired by a suitably qualified lawyer or planner with experience in relevant law. Panel members must also include a person nominated by the relevant local authorities.
- For future decisions on Fast Track projects, once a listed project's application for is considered complete and in scope, the name of the project and other details will be publicly available and published on the Fast-track website [www.fasttrack.govt.nz].
- Each project has its own project web page which provides information about the project, including its status (e.g. "listed", "applied", "comments", "panel considering" or "decision") and other details, once available.
