Strategic decision making frameworks

Abstract

The New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (NZCID) considers that there is a need for a much more strategic, more sophisticated and better balanced approach to prioritisation of infrastructure investment in New Zealand. This was one of the key reasons why NZCID was a cornerstone funder of the New Zealand Centre for Advanced Engineering (CAENZ) study into improving capital investment decision-making frameworks. In commenting on the need for reform of decision-making frameworks, this article traces the history of public sector project prioritisation methods, with a particular focus on transport. It critically assesses the approach used in conventional cost-benefit analysis (CBA), as applied during the 1990s and early 2000s. CBA is then compared with the much more politically driven approach adopted from 2003 onwards. The paper concludes by arguing that New Zealand must develop more strategic project prioritisation and decision-making methods which appropriately value economic, social/cultural and environmental benefits and costs.