Alan Pollard, Chief Executive, Civil Contractors New Zealand

Members will recall that following CCNZs meeting with Minister Watts (Local Government including water) of 12 May 2025 I sought industry feedback on indications of workflow, examples of projects that could come to market but haven’t, examples of projects cancelled or deferred, examples of poor procurement practices, examples of good news stories, and common procurement issues. I also received some good procurement case studies.

The task was made a bit more challenging with many contractors providing great examples but on the condition that neither the client nor the contractor were identified. While I understand the concerns, this made sharing examples with the Minister and providing context to our concerns difficult.

A letter with 14 pages of examples was sent to the Minister on 11 June. We received a response from the Minister on 26 June.

Apologies this hasn’t been shared with members sooner, but we have been expecting a further response from officials – I have followed up on this with his office.

The Minister acknowledges the issues raised and highlights some actions he has taken including clear expectations to councils on local government project delivery and funding, removing barriers such as consenting, and fast-tracking the RMA reforms.  

Minister Bishop has also written to us following our conference last week, and following a collective approach from Civil Contractors New Zealand, ACE NZ and Engineering New Zealand. In that letter, the Minister sets out the steps he is taking to improve the system to approve and fund projects and get them to market quicker.

However, advocacy takes time. I genuinely believe we are making good progress with the government (and opposition MPs), to help them understand the state of our industry, the needs of our members, and what this means for the country. It is interesting to note they now acknowledge the issues we have been bringing to their attention – the industry is struggling, we have lost capacity affecting our ability to deliver projects when they come to market at scale, funding needs to be sorted, infrastructure should span governments, etc.

I do also acknowledge the work that NZTA is doing to try to reconnect with the industry and bring (particularly) maintenance work forward. Can we magic up work – no. But we can persuade decision makers and bring the knowledge of contractors to them, to make sure policy is well-informed. I genuinely believe we are getting traction and making a difference here.

We will continue those efforts and won’t rest until we see the restoration of a buoyant civil construction sector.