The Government unveiled a $12 billion infrastructure package yesterday. 

It's pouring nearly seven billion dollars into transport infrastructure for projects up and down the country. 

This includes projects in Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Queenstown. 

$1.1b is for rail, including more than $900m for projects in Auckland.

After a two-year hiatus, the Government has given the green light to several four-lane highways, including State Highway 1 from Whangārei to Port Marsden, Mill Rd in South Auckland, widening SH1 from Papakura to Drury, the Tauranga Northern Link and SH1 from Otaki to north of Levin.

The major cash injection is  expected to create up to a thousand new jobs in civil construction and up to nine thousand in the wider supply chain.

Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive, Paul Blair, told Mike Hosking the cash is being spent where the growth congestion pains are being felt.

"It's a real acknowledgement of decades of under investment and this is a great start but it's only about 4% of the 300 billion of assets that we have got in the infrastructure space."

"Let's not forget we have got further announcements to come in May too. I would hope to see some of the other sectors and part of the country that weren't picked up would be addressed," said Blair. 

Construction Industry Council chair Graham Burke told Mike Hosking it's good the money is set in place, but says the three year election cycle means it's been very hard to plan.

"The thing that wasn't mentioned yesterday is the work that's going on the in the construction pipeline so that we can actually develop our businesses with some surety and people can come into the industry and know that they will actually have a career going forward."  

Burke says major businesses plan 20 years ahead.

"Let's hope that going forward we can take the politics out of infrastructure and actually plan."