19 April 2016

Grand building plans will lead to congestion, and at what cost?

| Greg Cornwell
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A design from the Giant's Manuka Oval plan

Promises, promises … My head is spinning at the cornucopia of exciting building developments so far announced for Canberra.

There is a new on-site convention centre, a new stadium to replace Civic pool, the City to Lake unit extension over at West Basin and there is the tram.

The container park on the futsal slab has been completed while the upgrade of Constitution Avenue, a longer job than building Egypt’s pyramids, will doubtless keep the construction industry busy until others of the above come on line.

To date these grandiose plans all have been north of the lake so not to deny southside, the Manuka Green project has been proposed.

There are mixed views about these intentions.

Some people regard the plans as unnecessary extravagances. Some see the heavy concentration upon Civic as congestion madness and some fear the destruction of the Bush Capital for another largely soulless high rise metropolis.

Others endorse the direction which will see the city move into the 21st century, able to attract major conferences and sporting fixtures on a regular basis, turning Civic into the ‘vibrant’ centre it always should have been and providing jobs, jobs, jobs.

There is a common omission about most of these schemes: the ACT community has not been asked if they want them. Worse, there is no costing for most and vague guesstimates for a few.

Has anyone kept count of the financial cost of all these promises, proudly announced at regular intervals? Has anyone considered the social or environmental costs?

While the former is impossible to judge, save that the cost will be more than any estimate, some of the latter can be identified.

The concentration of so much in Civic raises the matter of parking and, whether or not we are all on public transport or bicycles, congestion must result from more people living in and visiting the area and the same applies to Manuka Green.

Why not relocate the new stadium and any other progressive development to the outer suburbs? We don’t need to be Civic-centric. Even an extra 20,000 residents accompanied by extra retail outlets will not save Civic’s existing shops, vacuumed up by the Canberra Centre.

Finally, jobs. This mantra is repeated with every new project but some common sense should be exercised. It is not the government’s responsibility to provide employment for all Canberra’s workers, thus reducing this special place to simply bricks and mortar.

An eye taken off election benefits would be welcomed.

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dungfungus said :

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Stop spreading misthruths, justin!

Stop burying your head in the sand dunfungus

dungfungus said :

I walked through the commercial/ retail area between the Hyperdome and Tuggeranong Library yesterday.
There is only one operating shop (a cafe) left.
Everything else, including a lot of office space, is totally vacant and the place has an aura of a ghost town.
It’s a similar situation in a lot of town centres in the capital.
Just what are our leaders planning these massive city-centric expansions for because there is clearly no demand for more development in the territory.
With billions of dollars in unfunded superannuation to find and the billion dollar plus light rail to fund the government should be downsizing and consolidating but that doesn’t fit the emperor’s narrative does it.
It’s time for an external audit on the territory’s finances I think.

Funny you should say that about an external auditor. As I understand it, at least two people or groups have sent reports to the Auditor General, to investigate exactly this. Its been some time since the requests were sent, so hopefully we will hear something soon.

rubaiyat said :

dungfungus said :

rubaiyat said :

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Those “fools” in Sydney are having to go through dense built up areas with tunnels and major disruption to narrow CBD streets, none of which applies in Canberra, so you are just spouting nonsense.

But that has been standard for the anti-Tram hysteria. Carry on. We know you will anyway.

Have you seen the “services to be located under Northbourne Avenue”audit yet?
Well, don’t feel left out because no one else has either.
I have consulted with a couple of retired civil engineers who used to work for Dept of Territories and they said there are no records so they won’t know what is there until the diggers start to probe.
Expect the worst; and it will cost over $100 million plus unfathomable disruptions to traffic, businesses and residents.

You defer to the “retired civil engineers” who can’t remember, or recorded, where they put anything?

Doesn’t sound like the people I’d trust for anything.

I referred to the engineers saying “there are no records”. These were lost when self government took over from Federal control.
Anyhow, what is your guess as to what is there?

ChrisinTurner said :

Like the cost of the Light Rail Transit according to the CMA Business Case is $70M/year for 20 years = $1.4B. And that is only the first of 7 routes in the LR Master Plan. Althought now the ACT government has told Infastructure Australia it wants buses between Belconnen and Queanbeyan, not LRT.

Imagine using the guys working (?) on Constitution Avenue to build the Light Rail? How may pyramids in that?

Incidently CBD Ltd says 15% of ground level space in Civic is already vacant.

The ACT Auditor General has already said the ACT finances are looking bad.

One would hope that the million dollars poured into the Islamic schools is redirected somewhere else so isn’t a complete loss to the Territory.

Most people look at Canberra and they see a tank where money flows in the top (feds) and there are some taps at the bottom where money flows from.
The Labor party can only see the taps, they turn the taps up and the money slows down to a drip.
Alas they close the tap a little and the money builds back up coming out in a nice stream. Alas. we need more money so build more taps. Soon all the money runs out again and the taps slow to a drip.
So some taps are turned off completely. The cycle repeats until the Libs come in and remove most of the taps.
The people wonder why their taps are being taken away and soon forget why. They demand more taps and vote Labor back in. The cycle repeats.

In our case the money flowing in the top comes from new developments and investment. However these are also dependant on the number of taps in play. Who wants to put their money in an empty tank. Some of the taps include light rail and Green energy. The taps that are turned off are all on the south side of the tank.

ChrisinTurner said :

Like the cost of the Light Rail Transit according to the CMA Business Case is $70M/year for 20 years = $1.4B. And that is only the first of 7 routes in the LR Master Plan. Althought now the ACT government has told Infastructure Australia it wants buses between Belconnen and Queanbeyan, not LRT.

Imagine using the guys working (?) on Constitution Avenue to build the Light Rail? How may pyramids in that?

Incidently CBD Ltd says 15% of ground level space in Civic is already vacant.

The ACT Auditor General has already said the ACT finances are looking bad.

It’s amazing how much anything adds up over 20 years. Cars cost us over $4.8 billion A YEAR in the ACT so that makes $100 billion over 20… just the cars, not the roads, pollution, congestion, ill health or deaths.

I thought you’d be for the buses, or are you going to have it both ways?

Parenthesizing categories is a new turn. Any reason you picked on “ground level space in Civic”?

How much of that is facing heavy traffic in the “Roads We Have To Have” or the God Awful Parking Lots?

And the ACT finances are where they are largely through the “enterprising” Mr Fluffy, the can’t work out their own BS Federal Liberals, who sacked a lot of Public Servants but retained the empty office space they were in, and the Canberra Airport Tax Haven, yet another Federal Initiative.

ChrisinTurner3:29 pm 03 Mar 16

Like the cost of the Light Rail Transit according to the CMA Business Case is $70M/year for 20 years = $1.4B. And that is only the first of 7 routes in the LR Master Plan. Althought now the ACT government has told Infastructure Australia it wants buses between Belconnen and Queanbeyan, not LRT.

Imagine using the guys working (?) on Constitution Avenue to build the Light Rail? How may pyramids in that?

Incidently CBD Ltd says 15% of ground level space in Civic is already vacant.

The ACT Auditor General has already said the ACT finances are looking bad.

dungfungus said :

rubaiyat said :

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Those “fools” in Sydney are having to go through dense built up areas with tunnels and major disruption to narrow CBD streets, none of which applies in Canberra, so you are just spouting nonsense.

But that has been standard for the anti-Tram hysteria. Carry on. We know you will anyway.

Have you seen the “services to be located under Northbourne Avenue”audit yet?
Well, don’t feel left out because no one else has either.
I have consulted with a couple of retired civil engineers who used to work for Dept of Territories and they said there are no records so they won’t know what is there until the diggers start to probe.
Expect the worst; and it will cost over $100 million plus unfathomable disruptions to traffic, businesses and residents.

You defer to the “retired civil engineers” who can’t remember, or recorded, where they put anything?

Doesn’t sound like the people I’d trust for anything.

chewy14 said :

dungfungus said :

rubaiyat said :

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Those “fools” in Sydney are having to go through dense built up areas with tunnels and major disruption to narrow CBD streets, none of which applies in Canberra, so you are just spouting nonsense.

But that has been standard for the anti-Tram hysteria. Carry on. We know you will anyway.

Have you seen the “services to be located under Northbourne Avenue”audit yet?
Well, don’t feel left out because no one else has either.
I have consulted with a couple of retired civil engineers who used to work for Dept of Territories and they said there are no records so they won’t know what is there until the diggers start to probe.
Expect the worst; and it will cost over $100 million plus unfathomable disruptions to traffic, businesses and residents.

Yes, no one has any idea where any services are and there are no records whatsoever.

Who knows what they’ll find when they start digging? I’m predicting mummified dinosaurs.

…..wrapped in asbestos.

wildturkeycanoe6:40 am 03 Mar 16

rubaiyat said :

So how much of all the cars, road construction, fuel, insurance, etc stays in Canberra?

Yet you oppose public transport, which retains more money here?

Well, the fuel is probably purchased in Canberra, they don’t bring it over in 44 gallon drums, so there is another bit of revenue for the territory. Not sure what you mean by road construction.
Do you know who will be building the tram and how many local jobs will be created? Who in Canberra is capable of building the infrastructure, the tracks, the carriages, the catenary supports? How will Actew be able to supply enough labour to build the substations, the HV transmission lines? How many locals are going to be digging up the grass on Northbourne Avenue to move the services? How many tram driving schools are here? How many tram service companies are situated in Canberra? Very few if any. The bulk of the workforce to build and maintain this tram will be imported from either interstate or overseas, not from the numbers of unskilled unemployed living in Canberra. They will be ferried in from Sydney every time there is a breakdown, because there won’t be enough demand to keep a permanent maintenance crew viable here.
Also, the tram is being built and owned by a consortia of companies, probably with their interests somewhere overseas. Will the ticket profits stay here or get transferred to some Chinese investment group to be traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange? Look through the list of members involved with this project’s winning bid and you will see they are mainly owned by Chinese and German investors. Sure the head offices are in Sydney, but the money will flow to their main shareholders, who if you delve into the background of, are not in this country at all. Local profits? Nope. I think not. The “green” power for the tram will be bought at wholesale prices, from an interstate supplier nonetheless, as we don’t have sufficient capacity. An expanded bus network would have provided more jobs for bus driving staff, who are trained in Canberra by the way.

justin heywood said :

Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

They are building high-rise at Tuggeranong but only slowly, as the apartments didn’t sell.

wildturkeycanoe said :

As for the part about sporting fixtures, it wouldn’t matter how good or fancy a stadium is if there aren’t enough people to fill it. Without enough ticket sales we will never hold the kind of major international sporting events that Sydney and Melbourne do, it is a financial burden on the organizers. We get stuck with friendly games, little known teams like Kyrgyzstan and just a few token things like the PMs XI.

Who cares what we get? As long as the developers make a killing!

justin heywood5:29 pm 02 Mar 16

JC said :

The new apartments in Belconnen that have given some life to the town centre are private, so guess if private developers felt a demand and need to build in Tuggeranong they would.

Yes, that’s my point. If there is nothing built down there, nothing will happen, and the retail hub will continue to shrink. But the developers aren’t going to go in first, it needs to be led by government by sending infrastructure dollars to the area to encourage development. (Quite the same justification that is given for Capital Metro)

dungfungus said :

rubaiyat said :

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Those “fools” in Sydney are having to go through dense built up areas with tunnels and major disruption to narrow CBD streets, none of which applies in Canberra, so you are just spouting nonsense.

But that has been standard for the anti-Tram hysteria. Carry on. We know you will anyway.

Have you seen the “services to be located under Northbourne Avenue”audit yet?
Well, don’t feel left out because no one else has either.
I have consulted with a couple of retired civil engineers who used to work for Dept of Territories and they said there are no records so they won’t know what is there until the diggers start to probe.
Expect the worst; and it will cost over $100 million plus unfathomable disruptions to traffic, businesses and residents.

Yes, no one has any idea where any services are and there are no records whatsoever.

Who knows what they’ll find when they start digging? I’m predicting mummified dinosaurs.

dungfungus said :

rubaiyat said :

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Those “fools” in Sydney are having to go through dense built up areas with tunnels and major disruption to narrow CBD streets, none of which applies in Canberra, so you are just spouting nonsense.

But that has been standard for the anti-Tram hysteria. Carry on. We know you will anyway.

Have you seen the “services to be located under Northbourne Avenue”audit yet?
Well, don’t feel left out because no one else has either.
I have consulted with a couple of retired civil engineers who used to work for Dept of Territories and they said there are no records so they won’t know what is there until the diggers start to probe.
Expect the worst; and it will cost over $100 million plus unfathomable disruptions to traffic, businesses and residents.

Well covered by the very large contingency built into the contract.

But do go on…

Mysteryman said :

But “rates won’t triple the Liberals are lying!”. I remember hearing that from so, so left-leaning rioters, and from Great Leader Barr himself. And when the initial sting of a ~10% rise hit in a single year, they changed their mantra to “rates will always triple given a long enough period of time!!”. Apparently, 10 years is a “long enough” period of time for them.

Their party loyalty is so blinding that outrageous increases to living costs go completely ignored, all so they don’t have to admit they were wrong.

Their is plenty of blind party loyalty on both sides. Anyone who thinks liberal voters are different to labor voters in this regard are naive. The policy regarding rates has been applauded by pretty much every one except the ACT Liberals. The federal coalition treasurers and the current PM have said it was a good thing and even recommended to other states rather than have a hand out for federal money look at what the ACT is doing.

Also next to the triple your rates slogan in very very tiny fine print is what they don’t tell you.
Under a liberal government rates would still rise, instead of a 300% rise, maybe just a 250% rise and instead we’ll either get less services, less roads built, less of everything, but at least those rates increased less than what we said Labor would increase them by. They are rising under liberal governments everywhere else as well. They rose under Liberal ACT governments. In fact my rates in Tuggeranong have not risen that much because we live on less valuable land (yet all the Tuggeranong residents are feeling hard done by!). Canberra definitely suffers from people living in a bubble lacking any sense of reality.

crackerpants12:56 pm 02 Mar 16

Acton said :

“Has anyone kept count of the financial cost of all these promises…?
The ACT government assesses our property value each year. Every year property values rise.
Because property values determine rates this means that every year rates also go up.
The ACT Government has hit upon a formula to tax us by increasing amounts, every year into the future regardless of what our income is.
Rising rates are not paid out of rising property values. Rising rates are paid out of fixed or generally <4% annual wage rises.
So the financial costs of these promises do not matter when rates can be put up by 9-10% a year to fund whatever the ACT Government wants to spend our money on.
How much have your rates risen by over the past few years and are you happy with what the money has been spent on?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-budget-2015-rates-rises-biggest-in-canberras-inner-north-20150602-ghf4vm.html

Hmmm…our rates have risen every year, but I’m not sure that change in property value enters the equation, given we’ve had zero growth in UV for 4 years.

rubaiyat said :

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Those “fools” in Sydney are having to go through dense built up areas with tunnels and major disruption to narrow CBD streets, none of which applies in Canberra, so you are just spouting nonsense.

But that has been standard for the anti-Tram hysteria. Carry on. We know you will anyway.

Have you seen the “services to be located under Northbourne Avenue”audit yet?
Well, don’t feel left out because no one else has either.
I have consulted with a couple of retired civil engineers who used to work for Dept of Territories and they said there are no records so they won’t know what is there until the diggers start to probe.
Expect the worst; and it will cost over $100 million plus unfathomable disruptions to traffic, businesses and residents.

wildturkeycanoe said :

“Others endorse the direction which will see the city move into the 21st century, able to attract major conferences and sporting fixtures on a regular basis, turning Civic into the ‘vibrant’ centre it always should have been and providing jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Yes, but jobs for who? Canberra has a limited construction workforce permanently located here. Look at the number plates of the vehicles parked along the side of these new building sites and on the roads adjacent the big excavations. Look at the names of the companies plastered on the booms of the cranes and sides of the service vehicles. Are they locals? Do they live here permanently and call Canberra home? No. These people jump in their 4×4 utes on Friday arvo and head up the highway to Sydney, onto the Barton Hwy and out into the country towns and down the Monaro to Cooma and beyond. These projects do not employ locals because the winning tender was won by an interstate company with sufficient size and manpower to do the job. Canberra’s money is going to other states whilst a small percentage stays here in the form of grocery shopping and temporary accommodation. The only jobs created locally are fast food, coffee outlets and accommodation.

As for the part about sporting fixtures, it wouldn’t matter how good or fancy a stadium is if there aren’t enough people to fill it. Without enough ticket sales we will never hold the kind of major international sporting events that Sydney and Melbourne do, it is a financial burden on the organizers. We get stuck with friendly games, little known teams like Kyrgyzstan and just a few token things like the PMs XI.

So how much of all the cars, road construction, fuel, insurance, etc stays in Canberra?

Yet you oppose public transport, which retains more money here?

Mysteryman said :

Acton said :

“Has anyone kept count of the financial cost of all these promises…?
The ACT government assesses our property value each year. Every year property values rise.
Because property values determine rates this means that every year rates also go up.
The ACT Government has hit upon a formula to tax us by increasing amounts, every year into the future regardless of what our income is.
Rising rates are not paid out of rising property values. Rising rates are paid out of fixed or generally <4% annual wage rises.
So the financial costs of these promises do not matter when rates can be put up by 9-10% a year to fund whatever the ACT Government wants to spend our money on.
How much have your rates risen by over the past few years and are you happy with what the money has been spent on?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-budget-2015-rates-rises-biggest-in-canberras-inner-north-20150602-ghf4vm.html

But “rates won’t triple the Liberals are lying!”. I remember hearing that from so, so left-leaning rioters, and from Great Leader Barr himself. And when the initial sting of a ~10% rise hit in a single year, they changed their mantra to “rates will always triple given a long enough period of time!!”. Apparently, 10 years is a “long enough” period of time for them.

Their party loyalty is so blinding that outrageous increases to living costs go completely ignored, all so they don’t have to admit they were wrong.

Rates have gone up dramatically all over Australia, it has to do with our obsession with negative gearing, government “incentives”, punishing people who save with ridiculously low interest rates, and inflating property prices all to shoot ourselves in the foot.

Mysteryman said :

JC said :

dungfungus said :

I walked through the commercial/ retail area between the Hyperdome and Tuggeranong Library yesterday.
There is only one operating shop (a cafe) left.
Everything else, including a lot of office space, is totally vacant and the place has an aura of a ghost town.
It’s a similar situation in a lot of town centres in the capital.
Just what are our leaders planning these massive city-centric expansions for because there is clearly no demand for more development in the territory.
With billions of dollars in unfunded superannuation to find and the billion dollar plus light rail to fund the government should be downsizing and consolidating but that doesn’t fit the emperor’s narrative does it.
It’s time for an external audit on the territory’s finances I think.

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths just because it suits your anti Labor narrative.

Did you come down in the last shower? How many large infrastructure projects has the Labor government in the ACT delivered on or under budget? If you actually think light rail will be delivered for less than $1b, then you’re in for a surprise.

So you oppose every single project based on that assertion, or just the ones you love to hate?

Can you link me to where you so adamantly objected to all the freeways/roadworks?

In this case it is a PPP contract. So not sure how it is going to happen.

btw No-one has been able to blow out a budget like the Liberals did under Kate Carnell on Bruce Stadium so don’t make out it is a uniquely “Labor Government” problem. Throw in all the low level politicians who get voted in and the more than inept public servants they employ and you are getting closer to the problem than simple bloody minded partisanship.

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Those “fools” in Sydney are having to go through dense built up areas with tunnels and major disruption to narrow CBD streets, none of which applies in Canberra, so you are just spouting nonsense.

But that has been standard for the anti-Tram hysteria. Carry on. We know you will anyway.

Acton said :

“Has anyone kept count of the financial cost of all these promises…?
The ACT government assesses our property value each year. Every year property values rise.
Because property values determine rates this means that every year rates also go up.
The ACT Government has hit upon a formula to tax us by increasing amounts, every year into the future regardless of what our income is.
Rising rates are not paid out of rising property values. Rising rates are paid out of fixed or generally <4% annual wage rises.
So the financial costs of these promises do not matter when rates can be put up by 9-10% a year to fund whatever the ACT Government wants to spend our money on.
How much have your rates risen by over the past few years and are you happy with what the money has been spent on?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-budget-2015-rates-rises-biggest-in-canberras-inner-north-20150602-ghf4vm.html

But “rates won’t triple the Liberals are lying!”. I remember hearing that from so, so left-leaning rioters, and from Great Leader Barr himself. And when the initial sting of a ~10% rise hit in a single year, they changed their mantra to “rates will always triple given a long enough period of time!!”. Apparently, 10 years is a “long enough” period of time for them.

Their party loyalty is so blinding that outrageous increases to living costs go completely ignored, all so they don’t have to admit they were wrong.

JC said :

dungfungus said :

I walked through the commercial/ retail area between the Hyperdome and Tuggeranong Library yesterday.
There is only one operating shop (a cafe) left.
Everything else, including a lot of office space, is totally vacant and the place has an aura of a ghost town.
It’s a similar situation in a lot of town centres in the capital.
Just what are our leaders planning these massive city-centric expansions for because there is clearly no demand for more development in the territory.
With billions of dollars in unfunded superannuation to find and the billion dollar plus light rail to fund the government should be downsizing and consolidating but that doesn’t fit the emperor’s narrative does it.
It’s time for an external audit on the territory’s finances I think.

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths just because it suits your anti Labor narrative.

Did you come down in the last shower? How many large infrastructure projects has the Labor government in the ACT delivered on or under budget? If you actually think light rail will be delivered for less than $1b, then you’re in for a surprise.

Charlotte Harper11:01 am 02 Mar 16

The prison expansion came in several million under budget. It would be interesting to know how many others have done … anyone know?

watto23 said :

The issue I have is comments of a political nature regarding this. Only a fool would think the liberals would do anything different regarding developers and development. Both parties are lobbied hard by developers and bend over backwards for them. My issue is the ACT liberals have become a No to everything party, rather than actually look at the suggestion, does it fix the problem and then come up with alternatives. Politics has become all about politicians and there followers rather than what is good for a city. Development is just one and that is why the light rail is a good tool to focus development along the route, rather than lets just develop wherever the developers want. You’d like to think if the light rail does any good it would focus on the route. After all its the value increase along rail routes that is the lucrative bit.

I tend to agree with you. I don’t know what Liberal intends to do in regards to, well, anything, should they win the next election. All they tell us is that Labor is wrong, and what they would stop doing if they were in power. I would really like to know what they actually want to do for the city.

wildturkeycanoe said :

“Others endorse the direction which will see the city move into the 21st century, able to attract major conferences and sporting fixtures on a regular basis, turning Civic into the ‘vibrant’ centre it always should have been and providing jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Yes, but jobs for who? Canberra has a limited construction workforce permanently located here. Look at the number plates of the vehicles parked along the side of these new building sites and on the roads adjacent the big excavations. Look at the names of the companies plastered on the booms of the cranes and sides of the service vehicles. Are they locals? Do they live here permanently and call Canberra home? No. These people jump in their 4×4 utes on Friday arvo and head up the highway to Sydney, onto the Barton Hwy and out into the country towns and down the Monaro to Cooma and beyond. These projects do not employ locals because the winning tender was won by an interstate company with sufficient size and manpower to do the job. Canberra’s money is going to other states whilst a small percentage stays here in the form of grocery shopping and temporary accommodation. The only jobs created locally are fast food, coffee outlets and accommodation.

As for the part about sporting fixtures, it wouldn’t matter how good or fancy a stadium is if there aren’t enough people to fill it. Without enough ticket sales we will never hold the kind of major international sporting events that Sydney and Melbourne do, it is a financial burden on the organizers. We get stuck with friendly games, little known teams like Kyrgyzstan and just a few token things like the PMs XI.

The outbreak of common sense on this blog today is to be applauded.

wildturkeycanoe7:45 am 02 Mar 16

“Others endorse the direction which will see the city move into the 21st century, able to attract major conferences and sporting fixtures on a regular basis, turning Civic into the ‘vibrant’ centre it always should have been and providing jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Yes, but jobs for who? Canberra has a limited construction workforce permanently located here. Look at the number plates of the vehicles parked along the side of these new building sites and on the roads adjacent the big excavations. Look at the names of the companies plastered on the booms of the cranes and sides of the service vehicles. Are they locals? Do they live here permanently and call Canberra home? No. These people jump in their 4×4 utes on Friday arvo and head up the highway to Sydney, onto the Barton Hwy and out into the country towns and down the Monaro to Cooma and beyond. These projects do not employ locals because the winning tender was won by an interstate company with sufficient size and manpower to do the job. Canberra’s money is going to other states whilst a small percentage stays here in the form of grocery shopping and temporary accommodation. The only jobs created locally are fast food, coffee outlets and accommodation.

As for the part about sporting fixtures, it wouldn’t matter how good or fancy a stadium is if there aren’t enough people to fill it. Without enough ticket sales we will never hold the kind of major international sporting events that Sydney and Melbourne do, it is a financial burden on the organizers. We get stuck with friendly games, little known teams like Kyrgyzstan and just a few token things like the PMs XI.

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

The master plan for Tuggeranong town centre plans to slap up high rise so your suggestion is spot on.

As for the cost of the various light rail projects, to be fair, there are significant differences that would lead each project to have significantly different costs.

And that comes from someone who doesn’t believe there will be much, if any, change from a billion dollars.

HiddenDragon6:52 pm 01 Mar 16

“…..Finally, jobs. This mantra is repeated with every new project but some common sense should be exercised. It is not the government’s responsibility to provide employment for all Canberra’s workers, thus reducing this special place to simply bricks and mortar…..”

It’s a wonderfully circular logic regarding jobs – the ACT Government regularly justifies spending (over-spending) in part, at least, on the grounds that it will provide employment which in turn, of course, serves to grow the ACT population, or at least sustain it at a higher level – which then necessitates more housing and more infrastructure – and so on (apparently) ad infinitum.

Typically, this seems to operate on the time-honoured and now bi(tri?)-partisan principle of privatising the profits and socialising the costs – including broader costs such as congestion and pollution – with the financial costs adding to ACT Government debt and with rates and other charges regularly rising in real terms.

The issue I have is comments of a political nature regarding this. Only a fool would think the liberals would do anything different regarding developers and development. Both parties are lobbied hard by developers and bend over backwards for them. My issue is the ACT liberals have become a No to everything party, rather than actually look at the suggestion, does it fix the problem and then come up with alternatives. Politics has become all about politicians and there followers rather than what is good for a city. Development is just one and that is why the light rail is a good tool to focus development along the route, rather than lets just develop wherever the developers want. You’d like to think if the light rail does any good it would focus on the route. After all its the value increase along rail routes that is the lucrative bit.

“Has anyone kept count of the financial cost of all these promises…?
The ACT government assesses our property value each year. Every year property values rise.
Because property values determine rates this means that every year rates also go up.
The ACT Government has hit upon a formula to tax us by increasing amounts, every year into the future regardless of what our income is.
Rising rates are not paid out of rising property values. Rising rates are paid out of fixed or generally <4% annual wage rises.
So the financial costs of these promises do not matter when rates can be put up by 9-10% a year to fund whatever the ACT Government wants to spend our money on.
How much have your rates risen by over the past few years and are you happy with what the money has been spent on?
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/act-budget-2015-rates-rises-biggest-in-canberras-inner-north-20150602-ghf4vm.html

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

The new apartments in Belconnen that have given some life to the town centre are private, so guess if private developers felt a demand and need to build in Tuggeranong they would.

Re light rail costs, impossible to compare on a per km basis. Both Sydney and the Gold Coast for example have lengths of running on existing roads, Canberra does not. So massive cost difference there. For starters.

dungfungus said :

I walked through the commercial/ retail area between the Hyperdome and Tuggeranong Library yesterday.
There is only one operating shop (a cafe) left.
Everything else, including a lot of office space, is totally vacant and the place has an aura of a ghost town.

I agree that this area is wasted. This area is called “awkward” in the 2012 Tuggeranong Town Centre plan. The plan says “New developments between the lake and Anketell Street will be required to provide direct access to the lake at regular intervals”. The space fits into their new “Retail core area”, so they don’t want it to remain offices, perhaps it will all be demolished?

justin heywood said :

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

You might be forgetting some of the expensive infrastructure projects done on the southern side. The Kingston Foreshore redevelopment, for instance.

justin heywood said :

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km)

$1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km)

$700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

Stop spreading misthruths, justin!

justin heywood1:55 pm 01 Mar 16

JC said :

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

Yes it has, but what about other (most) suburban areas of Canberra? Should we slap up some high-rise around Tuggerranong to save the retail centre there?

Perhaps I’m being politically naive, but surely it would be fairer if some infrastructure projects were sited in the southern suburbs.

JC said :

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths …

Gold Coast Light Rail (13km) – $1.6 billion
Sydney CBD/SE Light Rail (12 km) – $2.2 billion (original budget of $1.6 billion)
ACT Light Rail (12km) – $700 million

Those fools in Sydney and the Gold Coast were ripped off!
Obviously nobody can manage infrastructure projects like we can!

JC said :

dungfungus said :

I walked through the commercial/ retail area between the Hyperdome and Tuggeranong Library yesterday.
There is only one operating shop (a cafe) left.
Everything else, including a lot of office space, is totally vacant and the place has an aura of a ghost town.
It’s a similar situation in a lot of town centres in the capital.
Just what are our leaders planning these massive city-centric expansions for because there is clearly no demand for more development in the territory.
With billions of dollars in unfunded superannuation to find and the billion dollar plus light rail to fund the government should be downsizing and consolidating but that doesn’t fit the emperor’s narrative does it.
It’s time for an external audit on the territory’s finances I think.

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths just because it suits your anti Labor narrative.

I find your comments amusing.
You are not in the least concerned about the $5 billion odd in unfunded superannuation but you are incensed that I could suggest the light rail will cost in excess of $1 billion.
Then again, you are one of the true believers are you not?
I’ll tell you what JC. If the price comes in under $1 billion I will apologise (as I have done on other issues) and if exceeds $1 billion you will say nothing.

Kim F said :

As you say, the Constitution Ave rebuild is taking longer than the Pyramids. The sad things is, once it is finished, they will need to rip it all up to stick their little train tracks down the middle.

Maybe they can make some space for the Pharaoh’s mausoleum while they are doing it?

As you say, the Constitution Ave rebuild is taking longer than the Pyramids. The sad things is, once it is finished, they will need to rip it all up to stick their little train tracks down the middle.

dungfungus said :

I walked through the commercial/ retail area between the Hyperdome and Tuggeranong Library yesterday.
There is only one operating shop (a cafe) left.
Everything else, including a lot of office space, is totally vacant and the place has an aura of a ghost town.
It’s a similar situation in a lot of town centres in the capital.
Just what are our leaders planning these massive city-centric expansions for because there is clearly no demand for more development in the territory.
With billions of dollars in unfunded superannuation to find and the billion dollar plus light rail to fund the government should be downsizing and consolidating but that doesn’t fit the emperor’s narrative does it.
It’s time for an external audit on the territory’s finances I think.

Go to Belco, it’s come along quite nicely with the new apartments that have been built and the people it has brought. Doesn’t have the ghost town feel.

And PS the light rail is not a billion dollars PLUS and you know it, so stop spreading miss-truths just because it suits your anti Labor narrative.

“To date these grandiose plans all have been north of the lake so not to deny southside, the Manuka Green project has been proposed.”
Pardon my ignorance, wasn’t the Manuka idea proposed independently of government by a 3rd party. The government merely reacted to it?

“Constitution Avenue, a longer job than building Egypt’s pyramids”
I still haven’t worked out why this was started before working out what the tram was doing? This would indicate that they either knew all along what the tram proposals were or Constitution Av could be ripped up again to lay the tram infrastructure. Going off the GDE it will be the later.

I would say that the current representation are trying to replicate things that have done well in the past. New stadiums, light rail, green thinking. However these are done adhoc and without proper consolation with the people. Most of these projects are high cost, small pay off and historically had little risk.

However on matters such as broadband and other tools that promote jobs and the local economy there is a huge void.

There is little risk and thus slow gain on tech areas. Instead of embracing old technology like trams, why not electric driverless cars or ubiquitous fast internet.
Projects like the wifi on bus are largely redundant now, as mobile data is much cheaper than it was 5 years ago. Yet are seen as winners based on historical popularity elsewhere. We’ll probably get green waste bins in 2030. Driverless cars in about 2050.

I walked through the commercial/ retail area between the Hyperdome and Tuggeranong Library yesterday.
There is only one operating shop (a cafe) left.
Everything else, including a lot of office space, is totally vacant and the place has an aura of a ghost town.
It’s a similar situation in a lot of town centres in the capital.
Just what are our leaders planning these massive city-centric expansions for because there is clearly no demand for more development in the territory.
With billions of dollars in unfunded superannuation to find and the billion dollar plus light rail to fund the government should be downsizing and consolidating but that doesn’t fit the emperor’s narrative does it.
It’s time for an external audit on the territory’s finances I think.

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