The release today of the Engineers Australia 2010 Tasmania Infrastructure Report Card indicates progress in some areas of Tasmania’s infrastructure over the past 5 years, but the overall picture clearly shows that the majority of infrastructure categories continue to fall within the areas of needing major or critical changes.

The Tasmania Division President of Engineers Australia, Grant Atherton, said “While the 2010 infrastructure report card indicates progress since 2005 in a couple of areas of Tasmania’s infrastructure, the overall picture clearly shows that Tasmania’s infrastructure is stressed, and is mostly rated as either just adequate or poor.

“Compared with 2005, reasonable improvements have been made in the area of Potable Water and there has been a marginal improvement for Wastewater, and the ratings for State Roads, Stormwater and Electricity have remained the same.

“However, the ratings for National Roads, Local Roads and Ports have slipped over the past five years and it is very disturbing that Rail received an F rating on the basis that it is inadequate for current and future purposes,” Atherton said.

The 2010 report card reviewed infrastructure categories across energy, telecommunications, transport and water and assigned ratings * within the scales of A – F, and provides many comparisons with the initial 2005 Tasmania Infrastructure Report Card. The 2010 report card includes a rating for rail, airports, irrigation, and gas, which were not rated in 2005.

Of the categories reviewed in the 2010 report - 5 get a good “B” – needing minor changes - 6 get a “C” - needing major changes; 1 gets a “D” - needing critical changes; and 1 gets an “F” – inadequate for current and future purposes.

The “B” ratings were given to Airports (B), Ports (B minus), Potable Water (B minus), Irrigation (B minus), and Electricity (B minus). The “C” ratings cover National Roads (C plus), State Roads (C), Roads Overall (C minus), Wastewater (C), Stormwater (C minus), Gas (C), and Telecommunications (C plus). The “D” rating is for Local Roads, and the “F” rating is for Rail.

Atherton acknowledged that the issues surrounding Tasmania’s infrastructure are complex and expectations of overnight solutions are not realistic but he said, “If Tasmania is to live up to its potential as an island community, with a unique natural and cultural environment and relatively prosperous lifestyle, action needs to be taken now to get our infrastructure performance up to speed.

“Our Government must move now to not only develop a long-term integrated infrastructure plan for the State, but that plan must include a solidly-based implementation program that is highly inclusive of local government, industry, the professions and the community.

“The quantum of funding for infrastructure must be increased and include incentives for private sector investment, and the appropriate allocation of risk to deliver the best project outcomes for all stakeholders.

“There also must be a parallel strategy implemented to grow the skills base of Tasmania to deliver and maintain our infrastructure projects.

“Also, as a practical and inexpensive step right now, it’s time to move on driving closer cooperation and resource sharing across our local government areas to deliver new infrastructure.

“But it is equally important to also to lock-in the critical means to upgrade and maintain new and existing infrastructure that local governments are often left to struggle with long after the fan-fare of a grand opening,” Atherton said.

The report includes comprehensive analysis and comment and includes the ratings table for the current and past Tasmanian and National Report Cards.

Further Information: Summaries of each infrastructure type, grade and comment are attached and a copy of the full 178-page report is available at www.engineersaustralia.org.au/irctas. The report card is the second in the series that will be completed for all of Australia by November.

(* The ratings have been based on an assessment of asset condition, asset availability and reliability; asset management and sustainability. An “A” means very good and the infrastructure is fit for its current and anticipated future purposes; “B” is good, with minor changes needed to meeting current and future needs; “C” is adequate, but major changes required; “D” is poor, with critical changes required; and “F” is inadequate).

Media Contact: John Bright - 0407 234 490 / jbright@engineersaustralia.org.au
Engineers Australia is the common name of The Institution of Engineers Australia with a membership of 92,000.

To download the full report please visit the Tasmania IRC website