Andrew Barr says the Opposition has included projects not part of the capital costs to come up with the $1.46 billion price tag for light rail Stage 2A. Image: Artist’s impression, ACT Government.
The Canberra Liberals have accused the Chief Minister of not being upfront about the “true costs” of light rail Stage 2A.
Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee claimed answers from Andrew Barr to some questions on notice, taken during the budget review committee inquiry, revealed the anticipated total cost of Stage 2A was more than $1.46 billion.
She labelled the number “astronomical” when compared to the almost $577 million price tag previously announced by Mr Barr.
“The total cost of delivering Stage 2A is almost three times what Andrew Barr said it would cost. It will cost Canberra taxpayers almost $1 million per metre of track,” Ms Lee said.
“That is equivalent to all Canberrans paying no rates for almost two years.”
Breaking down the numbers, the various pockets of money are:
- $52.2 million for early planning and design
- $129.8 million for raising London Circuit
- $265.4 million for supporting Stage 2A delivery
- $149.7 million for new vehicles, depot expansion and retrofitting to enable wire-free operations for Stage 2A
- $576.8 million for capital expenses
- $168.2 million for maintenance and operation costs
- $124 million for interest costs.
She said this also brought into question the true contribution from the Commonwealth.
It was previously announced the Federal and ACT Governments would split the cost of this stage 50/50, which meant the Commonwealth was tipping in $288.5 million.
Ms Lee said when looking at the $1.46 billion cost, that meant in reality the Federal Government was contributing less than 20 per cent.
“Canberrans should be very concerned about the true costs of this project and the impact this will have on the Territory’s skyrocketing debt, which will reach over $18 billion in the forward estimates, costing the ACT almost $2 million a day in interest repayments alone,” she said.
“And the worst part of this revelation is that once again, we see Andrew Barr not being upfront in the budget papers about the astronomical hit to Canberra taxpayers’ hip pockets.”
Shadow Transport Minister Mark Parton said this made it clearer why the ACT Government wasn’t giving any costings for the longer and more complex Stage 2B.
“The figures we are now looking at for Stage 2B are mind-blowing and the Labor-Greens government must tell Canberrans how much the tram to Woden will cost before the election,” he said.
“This project is madness … The Canberra Liberals are committed to providing a transport network that is cheaper, faster, greener and will get Canberrans where they want to go when they want to get there.”
The Canberra Liberals have claimed their own calculations have put the total cost of light rail Stage 2B at more than $4 billion.
The ACT Government has hit back, accusing the Opposition of manipulating the numbers.
Mr Barr said it wasn’t fair to characterise the $1.46 billion as the overall cost of Stage 2A, and that his government hadn’t attempted to conceal the project’s full costs.
“There are no ‘extra costs’ identified … all costs are fully accounted for and published in the Budget,” he said.
Mr Barr disagreed with lumping some of those costs together to come up with the $1.46 billion figure, such as the Raising London Circuit project, which is an enabling project for light rail Stage 2A and not part of the transport network itself.
“It has additional benefits including bringing the city to the lake, unlocking more land for housing, commercial, retail, hospitality and hotels,” he said.
He explained the new light rail vehicles and expanded depot weren’t just for Stage 2A but would also support the delivery of services in Stage 1.
“The new light rail vehicles aren’t going to run just from Alinga Street to the lake and the expanded depot isn’t going to service light rail vehicles that only operate on the Stage 2A line,” Mr Barr said.
He said the money he had previously announced was always for the capital costs, and that the Opposition had also failed to acknowledge “significant offsets” to the overall project costs, including the Commonwealth’s contributions to construction costs and relevant land sales along the Stage 2A route.
“All this shows is that some things never change with the Canberra Liberals.”
Given the current status of the project, Mr Barr’s confident the costs won’t substantially increase, however he noted “unforeseen costs” were always a risk with the construction of major infrastructure projects.
He gave assurances these potential risks were factored into planning for all infrastructure projects.
Mr Barr’s also confident Stage 2B will continue as planned.
“The only risk to the viability of Stage 2B is a Liberal Government in the ACT.”
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