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Nick Leggett: Infrastructure NZ chief executive on Queenstown being warned it needs to boost infrastructure · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: Now there's a warning that Queenstown needs to double its
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  Speaker 2: infrastructure in the next fifteen years. It's come from the
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  Speaker 2: boss of Southern Infrastructure, who says the population in Queenstown
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  Speaker 2: is booming and the roads and utilities aren't keeping up,
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  Speaker 2: and the pitch that he's got is a gondola network.
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  Speaker 2: Nick Leggett is the CEO of Infrastructure New Zealand and joins.
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  Speaker 1: Us now Hei Nick, Hello, head.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he is right, isn't he that the infrastructure
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  Speaker 2: is just not keeping up?
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  Speaker 3: Oh, it's not. I mean you think about how Queenstown
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  Speaker 3: has grown so massively over the last forty years, and
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  Speaker 3: it's not just the big growth and the struggling infrastructure
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  Speaker 3: that they've got a precarious electricity connection, they've got a
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  Speaker 3: very poor health services, really bad housing supply, and then
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  Speaker 3: that's before you get to the water and the roads
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  Speaker 3: and big congestion. People know, is that the people who
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  Speaker 3: live in Queenstown you know every day, but also visitors,
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  Speaker 3: and it is you know, it's kind of the postcard
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  Speaker 3: view of New Zealand, and it's a lot of visitors experience,
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  Speaker 3: you know, and it sets you know, it gives them
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  Speaker 3: the taste of New Zealand. And if that's difficult to
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  Speaker 3: move around or there's you know, there isn't reliable infrastructure,
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  Speaker 3: that leaves a bad taste potentially, So we do have
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  Speaker 3: to do something for the people who live there and
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  Speaker 3: for the visitor alike.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, we've been talking about this for ten years
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  Speaker 2: at least, probably even longer than that, Like, how is
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  Speaker 2: it that we haven't done anything about it?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, isn't this the great New Zealand story?
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  Speaker 1: Though?
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  Speaker 3: We are brilliant at admiring a problem and we just
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  Speaker 3: don't execute. And I think that is it's the big
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  Speaker 3: infrastructure challenge. It's like it's it's if you do see
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  Speaker 3: a need, you've got to invest. And what we've actually
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  Speaker 3: got to invest in a lot of is the assets
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  Speaker 3: we already owned, but in Queenstown's case, it's actually new stuff.
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  Speaker 3: And so I think unlocking new ways of funding. Like
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  Speaker 3: we had an event last year with Sir John King
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  Speaker 3: and Queenstown and he backed the position that infrastructure New
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  Speaker 3: Zealand took on let's unlock some different ways of funding things.
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  Speaker 3: So we talked about a bed charge, which is where
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  Speaker 3: you would put obviously a charge on all those overnight beds,
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  Speaker 3: you know, because any given night, twenty five percent of
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  Speaker 3: people who are occupying a bed in Queenstown are not
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  Speaker 3: permanent residents. And there's about half a billion dollars to
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  Speaker 3: spend on three water infrastructure alone over the next ten years.
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  Speaker 2: On that hotel tax, though, do you put it on
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  Speaker 2: just hotel beds or Airbnb beds as well?
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  Speaker 3: I think I think you would do it on every
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  Speaker 3: guest beds. That's the thing. And it's not like it's
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  Speaker 3: not a tax, it's actually a charge for a service.
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  Speaker 3: And New Zealand is really poor at charging people directly
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  Speaker 3: who run up a cost, and so we reckon that
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  Speaker 3: that would probably generate about twenty five to thirty million
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  Speaker 3: dollars a year for Queenstown. Imagine if that every year
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  Speaker 3: was able to be invested in servicing debt that built infrastructure.
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  Speaker 3: And that's before you even get to the gondola, you know, Queenstown.
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  Speaker 3: If you think about those people who visit, know that
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  Speaker 3: between the airport and the sort of central part of
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  Speaker 3: town is the narrow bench and you can't build out
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  Speaker 3: the road, right, you can't do anything with roading. We
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  Speaker 3: have to look at alternative ways to move people.
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  Speaker 2: Are you suggesting you gondola over from the.
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  Speaker 3: All around around and that's the that's the proposition, right,
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  Speaker 3: and it's going through the fast track now it get Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: we'll get a good hearing.
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  Speaker 2: And it's a joke. Why can't they just do normal
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  Speaker 2: things like buses?
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  Speaker 3: Well, because because you know the road, the road is limited,
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  Speaker 3: you actually can't really do more of the roads. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you know what it's like. It's like long and narrow
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  Speaker 3: and there's either there's a lake on one side and penie
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  Speaker 3: of houses on the other. So you've got you haven't
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  Speaker 3: got much room to play with.
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  Speaker 2: Come on, give me the chances that we actually end
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  Speaker 2: up building a bloody gondola.
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  Speaker 3: Well, what I would say is let's have an open
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  Speaker 3: mind to it. And there are plenty of other problems
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  Speaker 3: we can fix there with with the tools that we've
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  Speaker 3: gotten that we don't have. If you think about electricity supply,
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  Speaker 3: if you think about water, and you think about housing,
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  Speaker 3: But the gondola, we've got to find alternative ways of
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  Speaker 3: moon people around. So, like I'm open to it like
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  Speaker 3: it's not a stack up. I'm not saying I'm not
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  Speaker 3: saying built it right. Well, I'm saying is let's give
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  Speaker 3: it a fair here, Okay, all.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Nick, let's see. I love it. I love it.
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  Speaker 2: I love a looney idea, So we'll see if it happens.
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  Speaker 2: Nick leget Infrastructure New Zealand CEO.
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