Investing in infrastructure is at the core of the Government's economic plan. As we begin this term, we already have a record $42.2 billion on the books for infrastructure investment over the next four years in roads and rail, schools and hospitals, houses and energy generation.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency will receive $9.6 billion to invest in new roads and public transport projects that reduce congestion and travel times, support businesses, open up new areas for housing, and increase choice, including safer options for walking and cycling.
$3.8 billion is being spent on education facilities, including building new schools and classrooms for 100,000 students and starting the planned upgrade of around 180 schools right across the country over the next 10 years.
$3.6 billion has been committed to health, including new hospital facilities in Dunedin, Christchurch, New Plymouth, Auckland and Counties Manukau.
Kainga Ora will invest $9.8 billion across the next four years and the Government is on track to deliver a total of 18,000 public and transitional homes.
The Three Waters programme will see a $710 million investment to initiate an overhaul of the nation's drinking, waste and stormwater infrastructure.
These investments in housing, transport, schools and hospitals will help future proof our economy as well as create jobs. It also provides a pipeline of work that will provide businesses with confidence and certainty to invest in capacity to undertake these projects.
In addition, over 150 smaller community infrastructure projects will roll out over the coming months and across the term. The Government will invest in community projects like pools and stadiums, local fire stations and surf clubs, and libraries, art galleries, marae and museums—facilities across the country that bring people together to provide support and strengthen communities.
Improving our planning system is also a priority. It will create jobs by making it easier to deliver construction projects while protecting our environment and building the right thing in the right place. The current system is too costly, takes too long, and has not adequately protected the environment. The Government will ensure that New Zealand's resource management system is fit for the future by repealing and replacing the Resource Management Act. The Randerson review provides a sound platform for the Government to advance this work. In the first six months of 2021 the Government intends to release an exposure draft of key elements of the first bill.
Also vital to the recovery is our investment in trades training and apprenticeships. Education is the greatest enabler in our society and one of the biggest levers we can use to improve the productivity of the economy.
In the early stages of our COVID response the Government focused heavily on growing training and apprenticeships. It launched a comprehensive support package for apprentices and their employers, assuring job security for existing apprentices and creating openings for new ones.
Already thousands of New Zealanders have embraced the opportunity to take up a trade and train tor free. These New Zealanders are acquiring new skills and exciting prospects, and at the same time addressing the need to build the workforce that will be required to carry the vast workload of the coming infrastructure projects.
The Government will also complete the reform of the vocational education system. As the country rebuilds and more people are looking to retrain, it's now more important than ever that we have a vocational education system that's responsive to the needs of industry and learners.
The Government recognises the need to welcome skilled people from overseas to support New Zealand's economy, and will work alongside industry to help provide for that but it will, as a priority and a starting point, seek to develop New Zealand workforces to meet those skills needed here at home. With many New Zealanders looking for work, we need to do all we can to fill existing job opportunities.
While unemployment is lower than expected, the economic fallout has had an impact. The Government will remain focused on creating opportunities for people to get back into work.
