North Auckland will get a $91m infrastructure package to support the building of 9000 homes at Wainui, north of Auckland City.
The deal was announced on Tuesday by Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff.
The money will come from a partnership between Auckland Council, Crown Infrastructure Partners and Fulton Hogan Land Development, which will fund $91 million of roading and wastewater infrastructure.
Mr Twyford said the Government Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will allow private investment in new infrastructure without the debt sitting on Government or council balance sheets. This assists Councils who are nearing their debt limits.
"This new infrastructure funding model will result in a large number of homes being built much sooner than otherwise would have been the case," he says.
"One of the major road blocks to our towns and cities growing is the lack of ready access to finance for the infrastructure that allows for new urban growth, for green or brownfields developments."
The project will allow 4000 new dwellings in the Milldale development at Wainui, as well as the ability to support another 5000 dwellings in the surrounding areas.
The funding will be repaid over time by both Fulton Hogan Land Development and section owners as an 'infrastructure payment' collected with Council rates bills.
Mr Goff says it's a "big step" towards addressing the shortage and unaffordability of houses in Auckland.
"We've zoned much more land for housing, but we need the infrastructure before we can build on it," he says.
"Using Crown Infrastructure Partners to fund that infrastructure enables us to build roads, water and wastewater services without overburdening Council with debt and exceeding our debt to revenue ratio."
Newshub.
