PPPs unlikely under new Transport Bill

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Public-private partnerships are unlikely to work under the Land Transport Management Bill says Business NZ.

Chief Executive Simon Carlaw says it makes sense to use private capital as well as public funds to build new roads. 

“For example the BOOT scheme has successfully built many roads in Australia.  BOOT (build-own-operate-transfer) is where a private investor builds a road, owns and operates it for a while to recoup the investment, then transfers it back into public ownership. 

“But the Land Transport Management Bill will not let our roads pass out of public ownership, not even for the duration of a BOOT partnership.

“In addition, the process for approving PPPs will be costly and time-consuming and will load a disproportionate amount of risk onto the private investor.

“So while the Bill purports to allow public-private partnerships, in reality this is very unlikely to happen.”

Mr Carlaw said the Land Transport Management Bill was a classic case of MMP law making, where a minor party (in this case the Greens) gets undue influence over a Bill, making it unable to produce what it’s meant to.