NZ Government Financial Support for Irrigation

In addition to the pre-Budget announcements on a National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management and a pollution clean-up fund [see below, 18 May] an announcement was made on 9 May by the Minister for Agriculture, David Carter, on “Lifting investment in irrigation”.  A new Irrigation Acceleration Fund will provide M$35 over five years to “support the development of irrigation infrastructure proposals to the ‘investment-ready’ prospectus stage”.  Also announced was an ‘intention to consider’, in a future budget, Crown equity investment up to M$400 from 2013/14 in construction of regional-scale schemes, some involving storage. The Government intention is to “give confidence” to capital markets to invest in such schemes.
Source: http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/budget-2011-lifting-investment-irrigation