Minister of Infrastructure Chris Bishop has dismissed ASB's reported projection of the country requiring a trillion dollars to get its infrastructure up to the required standard, instead claiming he's less focused on numbers and more on systems.

The report states New Zealand will require up to 700,000 additional dwellings and associated infrastructure in the next 30 years as the country's population balloons. It stated that climate-change pressures are becoming more pressing, with New Zealand’s infrastructure lacking resilience and being heavily exposed to natural disasters.

It also claimed trade-offs may need to be made, including increased taxes, council rates or user charges.

Geoff Cooper, strategy general manager at the Infrastructure Commission, told Mike Hosking this morning the country should view this number more as motivation than a credible funding number.

"I would look at this number as a bit of a mirror on ourselves right now, reflecting what we're going to be up for if we keep doing the things the same way we're doing them," he said.

"It shouldn't be scary, it should motivate us to think how to be smarter to deliver infrastructure more effectively."

The figure would equate to $30 billion a year for 30 years.

Talking to Newstalk ZB Plus, Bishop said many have made guesses at how much it would cost to get the country's infrastructure back on track.

He said the fact New Zealand had an infrastructure problem was beyond dispute.

"I'm less focused on the precise number, as the estimates vary, and I'm much more focused on getting the system and tools right so we can address it," Bishop said.

"We have an extensive programme [such as] lifting crown investment, using new tools like PPPs, tolls and value capture, demanding side measures to make better use of what we already have."

Bishop said the Government was also working on both city and regional deals, developing its 30-year national infrastructure plan and establishing a new agency to help attract offshore investment.

During a speech at the Infrastructure Funding & Financing Conference back in March, Bishop told attendees that fixing the infrastructure deficit was not just about more spending - it was about smarter investment.

"[It involves] getting every dollar of public and private capital to its highest value use and lowering the cost of infrastructure, and cutting through the red tape that is holding us back," Bishop told the crowd.

"It’s also about fixing the systems which led to the deficit in the first place, including government procurement and delivery."

Geoff Cooper told Newstalk ZB this morning that among the questions the Government needed to answer was how to reduce the country's leakage rates in water networks by 50 per cent.

He said some sectors such as telecommunications and the energy sector had already led the way in demonstrating good institutional management, asset management and keeping positive disciplines in place.

"We cannot afford to keep paying these big numbers," Cooper said.

"In order to sort of reach the numbers we're talking about here, it would require a 21 per cent increase in the average income tax paid per taxpayer. So can we do this? No, I think it starts pushing against what is affordable for the average New Zealand taxpayer."