Alan Jolliffe: 3/15/09

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Investing in Infrastructure

People are suggesting the way out of this recession is to spend big on infrastructure and other stuff.

Yes that will help a little provided the right investment in infrastructure is made to meet the needs of NZ in the next 50 years.

Trouble is do we really know what the next fifty years will bring us. It certainly will not be more of the same. Lets get real about what are the major underlying factors that will drive communities and economies.

Energy. We consume more and more each year. Imported energy like fuel will only get more expensive so why do we want to invest in roads when there may be less cars around. Public transport systems may be a better option. Electricity consumption will rise further so we need to look at cost effective generation or alternate ways of harvesting free energy like solar heat, solar energy, water energy and marine energy.

Health care. Aging populations demand better health care. The best health care we can give is preventative “medicine” education, lifestyle change, healthy homes and work places. An investment here will keep people out of health care, working, inventing, creating and living.

Technology. New technologies in communications, materials, construction, manufacturing need developing to enable lower energy use, lower carbon waste, improved performance and lower resource use to retain as much of our scarce resources as possible.

Investment in these areas including research and development, facilities, education, health services will go a long way to making NZ competitive in the long run.

Investing in Education

I have been in Australia in Southern Queensland for nearly three weeks on holiday.Great weather, good beaches, lots of expensive attractions, heaps of shopping and much more.

At the National level a there is a lot of concern for the economic crisis. The Government decided to spend $42billion on infrastructure and handouts, concern about corporate profits and the future of big businesses. Banks are safe like in NZ because of the banking regulations.

But what will it all look like in 2 years time. We can only guess. Here is one example.

Except that the Australian investment in infrastructure is different. Schools will get new libraries, halls and science labs for education. Universities will get over $1 billion in new facilities. A new report suggested 20 new teaching universities on the outskirts of cities.

With this sort of investment in knowledge and learning Australia will be able to improve the level of knowledge and skills of many people throughout its diverse communities. A better educated population will enable Australia to grow economically, politically and innovatively in the future to make it an even more powerful country in the world.

Can NZ invest in it people in this or similar ways to ensure we can come out of this crisis with better people and greater knowledge to continue our innovative and creative business and community development?