Infrastructure Bill
Introduction
The Infrastructure Bill was introduced into Parliament on 5 August 2009 and has yet to have its first reading. The Bill proposes substantive amendments to eight Acts and the repeal of one Act. When it reaches the committee of the whole House stage, the intention is to split it into two Bills, the Utilities Access Bill and the Infrastructure Bill.
Developing New Zealand's infrastructure is central to the Government's economic growth strategy and is vital to improve the country's national productivity. The Bill contains a host of amendments over various Acts, which are all intended to facilitate infrastructure development.
The purpose of the Infrastructure Bill is to improve the consistency of regulatory arrangements for infrastructure development, streamline governance arrangements and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers. It is hoped these steps will enable infrastructure to be delivered in a more timely manner and at a reduced cost.
Summary of Parts
Parts 1 and 2 of the Bill improve the current arrangements for the management of access by utility operators to transport corridors (roads, railways and motorways). The purposes of these Parts are to remove inconsistencies and gaps in legislation and industry practice that result in inefficiencies, uncertainty and disputes.
Under Part 1, a framework for a national code of practice governing how utility operators and corridor managers co-ordinate their work is established (the "Code"). Compliance with the Code will be mandatory on all utility operators and corridor managers unless the parties otherwise agree. The courts will have powers to order compliance, and to impose fines if a court order is not complied with.
Any industry can develop a Code but it must satisfy certain requirements before the Minister can approve it including:
- the method by which statutory criteria are to be applied; and
- operational and dispute resolution processes.
Once approved, a Code is deemed to be a regulation. If no Code is developed and approved, the Minister may issue a Code in the form of regulations.
The purpose of the Code is to ensure that access to transport corridors is managed in such a way as to:
- maximise the benefit to the public while ensuring that utility operators are treated fairly,
- ensure disruptions to transport corridors are kept to a minimum;
- provide a nationally consistent approach to managing access to transport corridors.
Part 2 amends six acts:
- Telecommunications Act 2001
- Electricity Act 1992
- Gas Act 1992
- Local Government Act 1974
- Railways Act 2005
- Government Roading Powers Act 1989.
The purpose of Part 2 is to amend a variety of acts relating to utility operators access to transport corridors. Amendments to the top four acts on this list provide for consistency regarding reasonable conditions of access to the corridors, allocations of costs when utility operators move assets, and time periods for notices and responses. Amendments to the bottom two acts provide time frames for responding to requests for access to rail corridors and motorways and require authorities to publish criteria on which they will base access decisions.
Notably, the amendment to the Local Government Act 1974 introduces a requirement that councils must give 10 working days' notice to utility operators before starting work that will or is likely to interfere with their pipes, lines etc.
The change to the Railways Act 2005 requires licensed access providers and railway premises owners to publish the criteria they will apply when considering requests by local authorities or owners of pipes, lines etc, for access to the rail corridor. The person receiving the request will have 30 working days to respond.
Part 3 amends the New Zealand Railways Corporation Act 1981 by removing some of the restrictions that negatively affect the governance and running of the New Zealand Railway Corporation ("NZRC"). The changes include removing the requirement to provide the Minister with an annual programme of capital works and the limit on how much NZRC can spend in any one year.
Part 4 repeals the Affordable Housing: Enabling Territorial Authorities Act 2008 (the "AHETA Act"). This Act was developed with the intention of addressing concerns about declining house affordability and provided territorial authorities with new powers to increase the supply of affordable housing. However, no territorial authorities have used the powers under the Act and many developers and territorial authorities complain the Act is counter-productive and may reduce, not increase, the supply of affordable housing as well as creating regulatory barriers to Government housing initiatives. An amended version of the prohibition on certain restrictive covenants in the AHETA Act will now sit in the Property Law Act 2007.
Changes to the Resource Management Act 1991 are being dealt with through a separate legislative process and the Bill excludes these. That process is also likely to cover possible reforms to the Public Works Act 1981 and other overlapping legislation.
Obvious omissions in the Bill are:
- no changes to the Land Transport Management Act 2003 including the survival of:
- concession agreements only being able to apply to new roads (excluding upgrades and maintenance of existing roads)
- the 'high degree of support' requirement from the 'affected community' in tolling proposals
- no repeal of the provisions that prevent the use of PPPs in the Corrections Act 2004.
The Bill is likely to be passed within the 2009 Legislation Programme with the Minister for Infrastructure, Rt Hon. Bill English, being responsible.
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Last updated: 12 August 2009
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