Whilst many of today’s budget measures were flagged in advance the devil is always in the detail and so here is Brackenway’s construction focused wrap.
The Government has committed $75B for infrastructure investment over the next 10 years including:
- $5.3B for establishing the Western Sydney Airport Corporation
- $10B for a National Rail Programme to deliver rail projects for cities and regions that would cover Brisbane Metro and Cross River Rail but importantly funding will not start to flow until 2019 and will be subject to a proven business case reviewed by the recently announced Infrastructure and Projects Financing Agency.
- $8.4B in equity for Inland Rail between Melbourne and Brisbane with construction to commence in 2017/2018 and opportunities for Public Private Partnerships.
- $1.6B for infrastructure projects in WA
- $1B for infrastructure projects in Vic
- $844M to upgrade the Bruce Highway including $530M for Pine Rivers to Caloundra (currently in planning).
- $472M for a Regional Growth Fund to help communities “take control of their economic future”
- $5.2M for feasibility studies into new gas pipelines from WA to SA and NT to SA
Finally the government has offered to buy out NSW and Vic’s share of the Snowy Hydro project providing the revenue is reinvested in public infrastructure.
At Brackenway we think that the budget’s infrastructure investment measures are a positive step in the right direction but we are disappointed that funding for regional rail will not start for another two years.
We’d love to hear what you think.
Jon Davies
Principal
Brackenway Consulting Budget Wrap