Build forgenerations,not elections.
Governments change, but the problem persists.
A campaign from
Non-partisan. Evidence-led. Focused on getting things done smarter, faster and better.
Every three years, New Zealand votes.
Too often the plans change. Projects are paused, cancelled, started again.
When politics gets in the way.
All of New Zealand loses.
We waste time and money instead of getting on with building what New Zealand needs. Tap to see what it has cost us.
Infrastructure New Zealand
The cost of politics
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Cook Strait ferries, iReX
2021 ordered2023 cancelled2025 contract settled Ordered in 2021 and cancelled in 2023, after $671M was spent on the project and its wind-down. The need remained: replacement ferries have since been contracted in 2025, with the new $1.86B programme due for delivery in 2029. KiwiRail, August 2025; 1News, August and November 2025 - $671M
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Auckland Light Rail
2017 announced2024 cancelled2026 corridor listed again Announced in 2017 to connect the city centre to Māngere. After six years and $228M spent on planning and design, it was cancelled before any track could be laid. This year, Te Waihanga’s National Infrastructure Plan has flagged the same corridor as still worth solving. 1News, January 2024; 1News, February 2026 - 6 years, $228M
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Ōtaki to north of Levin
2020 funded at $817M2025 construction begins2029 due Five years passed before construction began, delaying the safety benefits of replacing one of New Zealand’s most dangerous stretches of highway, while the cost grew from $817M to $2.1B. NZTA project page; Ōtaki Today, 2025; NZTA crash data - +$1.3B
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Let’s Get Wellington Moving
2015 established2023 dissolved Mass transit for Wellington’s inner suburbs and southern corridor. $160M spent before being dissolved, while its promised replacement, a second Mt Victoria tunnel, has since stalled too. NZTA OIA-15198; RNZ, December 2023; The Melbourne Villager, August 2026 - $160M
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Lake Onslow pumped hydro
2020 investigation launched2023 cancelled2026 revived by a private consortium The project was cancelled, but the dry-year problem wasn’t solved. Six years after work began, a private consortium is now pursuing the same Lake Onslow concept through fast-track. $21.8M wasted and years of potential progress lost. MBIE, NZ Battery Project; Newsroom, 2023; 1News, April 2026 - 6 years, $21.8M
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Water reform, twice
2020 Three Waters launched2024 scrapped2025 redone as Local Water Done Well The cost of redoing it. Six years since Three Waters launched, councils only finished submitting delivery plans under the new model in September 2025. Total investment now committed under Local Water Done Well is $9B more than councils first estimated, on top of the $231M already written off when Three Waters was scrapped. Crux and RNZ, 2026; Reseller News, 2024 - 6 years, +$9B
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Waitematā Harbour Crossing
1988 first study2023 $56B plan rejected2024 options study restarted Eleven studies and business cases into an additional crossing since 1988, the current one alone costed at $100M+ by NZTA. Still no bridge and no decision, while the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge continues to deteriorate. NZTA, Waitematā Harbour Connections; The Spinoff, August 2026; Newshub, December 2023 - 11 studies, $100M+
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Resource management reform
2021 funded to design2023 repealed2024 funded to design, again $224M has been allocated across two attempts to replace the RMA over the last five years. Today, there is still no replacement law in force, while infrastructure providers spend an estimated $1.29B every year getting projects consented. Treasury, Budget 2021 and Budget 2024; Te Waihanga, December 2021 and December 2025; Beehive, May 2021; Ministry for the Environment, Budget 2024/25 - $224M
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New Dunedin Hospital
2020 inpatients due 20282024 paused2031 inpatients now due Inpatients now due three years later than planned, after a 2024 pause that Cabinet resolved with a $290M top-up. The outpatient building alone, opened August 2026, cost $440M. Beehive; Treasury, Budget 2026; The Spinoff, August 2026; Otago Daily Times, 2026 - +3 years, +$290M
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Mill Road
2016 corridor protected2021 major project dropped2024 reinstated2025 back to design After 17 years of planning, Mill Road is still not under construction. The major project was scaled back in 2021, reinstated three years later, and is now progressing through design and consenting while South Auckland continues to grow. NZTA, April 2025; 1News, June 2021; Franklin Times, April 2025 - 9 years
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Haywards Hill, SH58
2014 safety package proposed2018 speed reduced2025 final section starts construction A safety upgrade first proposed at $30M became a $159M+ programme, with the final section only starting construction 11 years later while the safety problem remained. NZTA, 2014; NZTA project page - $30M to $159M
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East-West Link
2014 unveiled2017 scrapped2024 revived2025 approved for design Around $40M had already gone into investigating the East-West Link when it was dropped. Seven years later it was revived to tackle the same congestion problem in an industrial area generating 8% of Auckland’s GDP. NZ Parliament Hansard, 9 November 2017; NZTA investment case, August 2025 - $40M
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Auckland cycle bridge
2021 announced2021 cancelled, four months later $51M was spent on design, consultants and engineering before the Government cancelled the project just four months after announcing it. The bridge was never built. 1News, October 2022 - $51M
Addressed to: every political party.Without an enduring plan for New Zealand’s future, individual projects become political battlegrounds. We debate the solution before we’ve agreed on the problem. When governments change, the solution can change with them.
Every figure on this bill is public. Check them yourself.
Twenty-five years of stop-start politics has a cost.
$11.8 billion.
What $11.8 billion looks like. Rounded down. Each figure is the project’s reported cost.
6new Dunedin Hospitals$1.88B each · Health New Zealand
17Te Kaha stadiums$683M each · Christchurch City Council, 2026
9Kaikōura road and rail rebuilds$1.2B each · NZTA and NCTIR
14Manawatū Tararua Highways$824M each · NZTA, 2025
55Waimea Community Dams$211M each · Waimea Water, 2025
9Transmission Gullys$1.25B each · NZTA
2City Rail Links$5.49B each · City Rail Link Ltd, 2023
7Central Interceptors$1.67B each · Watercare, 2026
New Zealand needs its leaders to put politics aside and get on with building the infrastructure we need.
“Infrastructure investmentshould follow national purpose,not political cycles.”
Infrastructure New Zealand · Election 2026 Manifesto
Certainty means we build more.
When builders know a project will actually finish, they invest in apprentices, crews and machines. Costs come down and more gets built with the same money. Not spending more, deciding better. A long-term building plan that keeps going when the government changes.
This is about far more than roads. It’s every system the country runs on:
Rail
Water
Energy
Hospitals
Schools
Homes
Telecommunications
Waste
The plan: eight priorities.
Infrastructure New Zealand’s Election 2026 Manifesto asks the next government, whoever forms it, for eight practical things.
Build for growth
Pick a long-term direction for the economy, and build the infrastructure that serves it, instead of choosing projects by electoral cycle.
A 12-year building plan
Funded up front, sequenced, and reviewed mid-term, so it keeps going when the government changes.
A Growth Infrastructure Fund
A dedicated fund run at arm’s length from politics, so good projects don’t have to compete with next year’s headlines.
Look after what we have
Maintain the roads, pipes and public buildings we already own, before they fail and cost far more.
A system that delivers
One expert team to buy and deliver every big project, with cost and progress reported publicly.
Empower cities and regions
Let more of the money a growing region generates stay there, so councils can plan and build for their own communities.
Water stewardship
Clear leadership for water from day one: a Minister for Water, a Chief Engineer, and an Ombudsman on the customer’s side.
Unlock energy
A long-term national plan for clean power, so the grid gets built ahead of demand instead of behind it.
The evidence behind every ask
So this election, every promise goes on the record.
Every party. Eight tests.
Publishes 23 October three days before advance voting opens.
Every party gets the same survey on the same day, with the same deadline: eight sections, one for each priority in the manifesto, thirty-five position statements. Their answers inform the ratings, and every party sees its assessment before it publishes. Before you vote, see exactly what each party has committed to build. Whoever wins, New Zealand holds them to it.
- 11 SeptThe same survey goes to every party
- 23 OctScorecard published
- 7 NovElection day
This campaign doesn’t tell you who to vote for. It puts the evidence where everyone can see it.
The Voice.
Opens late October
The evidence is one half of the argument. The other half is the sector itself: the people who design, fund, consent and build New Zealand’s infrastructure, in their own words.
In Focus
The Pulse
Quoted
Let’s buildNew Zealand.
Stay in the loop until election day: new evidence as it lands, the scorecard when it publishes, and the campaign as it unfolds. From Infrastructure New Zealand.
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