New Zealand Fast-tracks Steel Manufacturing Project
A structural steel manufacturing plant project in Waikato, New Zealand, has been Fast-tracked by the nation’s government.
National Green Steel lodged its application in July 2025 to build a structural steel manufacturing plant in Hampton Downs in Waikato.
Minister for Infrastructure, Chris Bishop, said: “New Zealand has a major infrastructure deficit. We need to deliver infrastructure faster, and we need the supply chains to back that up. A project like Green Steel can do both, building local manufacturing capacity and help provide material for a range of developments.
“The new plant will process about 200kt of recycled steel annually. The project will reduce structural steel imports and reduce the amount of scrap steel being exported. Green Steel already has collections yards in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Putāruru and Christchurch. These yards recover metal resources from end-of-life vehicles, sheet metal, and beams.”
Minister of Climate Change, Simon Watts, added: "The project will use electric arc furnace technology to produce high-quality structural steel with a lower carbon footprint compared to current steel production methods used in New Zealand.”
New Zealand’s Fast-track brings together the processes for obtaining resource consent and a wide range of other approvals into one simple process.
Since 2024, 13 projects have been approved by expert panels through the Fast-track process.