Appointment of Executive Director National Infrastructure Unit

Treasury Secretary John Whitehead today announced the appointment of Richard Forgan as Executive Director of the National Infrastructure Unit, which is tasked with taking a national overview of infrastructure priorities and providing cross-government co-ordination, planning and expertise.

"The Government's objective is for New Zealand's infrastructure to be a means to permanently lift the sustainable growth rate of the economy, through increased productivity and improved management of Crown assets," Mr Whitehead said.

"Effective infrastructure is important to facilitating economic growth and the Government has established the National Infrastructure Unit within the Treasury to assist it to meet this objective. I am delighted to have made an appointment of Mr Forgan’s calibre to lead the unit."

Mr Forgan is currently a director at PriceWaterhouseCoopers where his focus has been on the public sector - from Crown interventions in the tertiary education sector and performance improvement/change management in the public sector, to financial and economic analysis.

His infrastructure experience includes leading the Ministry of Economic Development's infrastructure stock take, road and rail project financing in Britain and 3G spectrum auctions. 

The unit’s responsibilities include:

• Formulating and monitoring progress on a 20-year National Infrastructure Plan (to be updated every three years);
• Providing support to and acting as a secretariat for the new National Infrastructure Advisory Board; and
• Providing support and guidance to government agencies in the procurement and asset management of major public infrastructure.

Mr Forgan will take up his position on November 16.

http://www.infrastructure.govt.nz

ENDS