South Island Minister James Meager says National wants to direct more investment into growing parts of the South Island, with major election commitments focused on freight, transport and Christchurch Hospital.

Speaking to Chris Lynch Media, Meager outlined the thinking behind National’s proposed $50 million investment in a multimodal freight hub at Rolleston and its $70 million commitment for another 96 beds at Christchurch Hospital.

The Rolleston proposal is not yet at the final approval stage, with Meager saying a full business case would still be required before taxpayer funding was committed.

“At the moment the proposal is based on documents and pictures that we’ve received from both the Selwyn Council, but also some interested parties who are looking at multimodal freight hubs there.”

He said National’s interest was primarily focused on the rail component and improving freight connections across the South Island.

“We’ve sort of got an idea of why it would be beneficial for the South Island and the wider region. You know, taking truck movements off the road, getting better access to ports.

“Until we have an actual business case in front of us as ministers, we wouldn’t actually make that final sign off, and I think that’s the right thing to do when you come to dealing with taxpayer dollars.”

The Minister was also questioned about concerns the South Island was not receiving a fair share of national transport investment.

Meager said he could not see how a figure suggesting the South Island was about $1.8 billion short had been calculated, but agreed with the broader argument that fast growing regions needed continued investment.

“I think what the report points out is that there is definitely a need to continue to invest in parts of the country that are growing.”

He said South Island transport funding had already increased under National and accepted there was a case for further investment in areas where population and economic growth were placing pressure on infrastructure.

Meager said transport funding could not be reduced to a simple population formula because governments still had to maintain infrastructure in slower growing parts of the country.

“The underlying theme is right. Parts of the country that are growing and that are successful, we should look at continuing to make more investment in them.”

Meager also discussed his recent meeting with Christchurch city councillors, where public transport, housing, short term accommodation and the future of Cathedral Square were among the issues raised.

He said the Government had committed to a short term accommodation register, which would give councils a clearer understanding of properties being used for services such as Airbnb.

The cathedral also featured in the discussion, although Meager said councillors held different views about its future.

He said any wider Government involvement would be easier once Christchurch had a clearer position on what it wanted for Cathedral Square and the surrounding area.

National’s Christchurch Hospital commitment would provide another 96 beds on top of the existing fit out.

Meager said the additional $70 million would likely require funding decisions through Budget 2027 if National was returned to government.

He said capital funding would come from existing allowances, while the operational cost of staffing and running the extra beds would be met through Health New Zealand funding.

Meager said his expectation was that the additional beds could be delivered around the same time as the current fit out, which he understood was due for completion in the first quarter of 2027.