New Zealand Upgrade Programme

[6] $991 million will be spent in Waikato and the Bay of Plenty, including constructing the Tauranga Northern Link, widening State Highway 2 from Te Puna to Omokoroa to four lanes, and a roundabout at the SH 1/SH 29 intersection at Piarere.

It includes new passing loops at Maymorn and Carterton railway station; a second platform at Featherston; new rolling stock storage facilities at Wellington, Levin, and Masterton; signalling upgrades; level crossing safety upgrades; refurbishing the Capital Connection rolling stock; and safety and capacity improvements at Wellington Station junction.

Jacinda Ardern said the programme was "a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in New Zealand – modernising our infrastructure, preparing for climate change and helping grow the economy".

[2] Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said the programme was the largest infrastructure investment in decades.

[3] Finance Minister Grant Robertson called the programme "the biggest boost to infrastructure spending in New Zealand in more than a generation", adding that "a decade of under investment ... was a 'handbrake' on the economy".

[6] Former opposition leader Simon Bridges criticised the government for "pick[ing] up where National left off",[5] saying that it "has realised it has no infrastructure ideas of its own that it can deliver on, so it has copied the plans I put in place when I was Transport Minister".

[4] Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter agreed, writing that "A Green Party upgrade would have prioritised differently".