The Act represents a “significant milestone” for infrastructure funding in New Zealand, the firm says
The government has implemented the Infrastructure Funding and Financing (IFF) Act 2020 with Simpson Grierson’s help.
The firm said that the Act is “designed to support a new special purpose vehicle funding and financing model for the provision of bulk infrastructure for housing and urban development.”
“It is expected to enable a number of viable bulk infrastructure projects to proceed that would otherwise be delayed by the financing and funding constraints impacting many local authorities across the country,” the firm said.
Simpson Grierson said that the legislation’s implementation is a “significant milestone” for infrastructure funding in New Zealand.
“The IFF model will add another tool to the funding and financing toolkits available to many local authorities,” said Josh Cairns, the firm’s lead partner in working on the transaction.
Cairns said that the project has become especially important, with local authority funding and financing headroom constantly being under the pump. The economic blow dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic has also amped up the pressure in many cases.
“Ultimately, the model should help local authorities to facilitate development and keep up with demand for housing, access, and services,” he said.
Simpson Grierson’s infrastructure team was chosen to collaborate with the Treasury and the Department of Internal Affairs on the Act in late 2018, and has been assisting in the development of the IFF program. The team will continue to provide advice on the IFF model’s implementation.
Fellow partners Jonathan Salter and Simon Vannini; special counsel David Cochrane; and senior associates Mace Gorringe, Graeme Palmer and Lizzy Wiessing remain part of Cairns’s team.
