50 infrastructure projects across Australia will be slashed.
A 90-day review announced by the Federal Government has found an existing ten-year pipeline of 247 projects could not be delivered within the current $120 billion budget allocation — it also found many proposals lacked merit.
The infrastructure department has published a list off that back of the review of projects which have been scrapped and one which have made the cut.
While the $500 million for the High Speed Rail Authority has made the cut, a further $1 billion in funding for “fast rail” upgrades between Newcastle and Sydney have been dropped, while the Muswellbrook Bypass will proceed through planning, with left over cash to be used for construction and the M1 Extension to Raymond Terrace will go ahead as planned, but has been moved into a new corridor with other Pacific Highway upgrades between the Hunter and Coffs Harbour.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King says the changes will grow the economy improve productivity and take pressure off inflation.
“The independent review found while local government programs are a critical funding mechanism for local roads and infrastructure, they are administratively burdensome and lack sufficient funding or certainty. The Commonwealth Government’s response to these recommendations will be announced in coming days.
“The Government has also acted on the review recommendations to improve efficiency and flexibility in project deliverability on nationally significant road and rail corridors.
“Many projects located along strategic national freight routes are now grouped into corridors. This approach will allow State and Territories to more flexibly manage project delivery schedules according to their priorities.
“As part of responding to the findings of the review, the Government has made necessary decisions to no longer provide funding at this time to some projects.
“This includes projects that were not realistically going to be delivered with the funding available, have made little to no progress over a significant amount of time, and projects that do not align with Commonwealth or state and territory priorities.
“We also know that there continue to be significant cost pressures in the system and we will work collaboratively and proactively with the states and territories to manage these,” Ms King said.
See below for the Hunter projects which were mentioned in the final report of the review and whether they made the cut or not.
Projects to be built as planned:
- Bucketts Way
- Clarence Town Road – Raymond Terrace to Dungog
- Coulsons Creek Road upgrade
- Dunns Creek Road
- High Speed Rail Authority
- John Renshaw Drive
- M1 Pacific Motorway Extension to Raymond Terrace
- Mandalong Road upgrade
- Newcastle Inner City Bypass – Rankin Park to Jesmond
- Pacific Highway – Raymond Terrace to Karuah upgrade
- Port Stephens Cutting upgrade
- Tenterfield to Newcastle – Bald Nob Road upgrade
Projects to proceed through planning:
- New England Highway – Muswellbrook Bypass
Projects to be scrapped:
- Sydney to Newcastle – Tuggerah – Wyong faster rail upgrade