Building Queensland has identified 16 priority infrastructure proposals as part of its first Infrastructure Pipeline Report to assist the Queensland Government in making its major infrastructure decisions.
Of the 16 proposals, four are ready for government investment consideration. These include the Cross River Rail through the Brisbane CBD; the European Train Control System (ETCS) in the Inner City area of the Brisbane rail network; the Yamanto Interchange to Ebenezer Creek stretch of the Cunningham Highway near Ipswich; and the Mudgeeraba to Varsity Lakes leg of the Pacific Motorway on the Gold Coast.
Engineers Australia welcomed the release of Building Queensland’s Infrastructure Priority List. “The priority list, coupled with the State Infrastructure Plan, provides some clarity to the community and industry on future infrastructure projects”, said Chris Warnock, Infrastructure spokesperson for Engineers Australia Queensland.
“While we have a priority list and an infrastructure plan, the biggest challenge facing all of these projects is how they will be funded. It is up to the State government to identify where the funding will come from, including negotiating with the Federal government on what contribution they will make. Until the funding sources are clear, and a timetable for project delivery announced, we are unable to take any certainty that these projects will be delivered. We look forward to clear funding commitments and timeframes for the delivery of these priority projects,” noted Warnock.
Building Queensland Board Chair Alan Millhouse said the Infrastructure Pipeline Report articulated for the first time priorities across all key sectors and reflects proposals currently under development by Queensland Government departments, government owned corporations and a number of statutory authorities.
"We are pleased to see the government has committed to progress the ETCS Inner City project having received the business case from Building Queensland last month," said Building Queensland Board Chair Alan Millhouse.
"We have also submitted the Cross River Rail Business Case to the Queensland Government this month and this reflects its readiness for a funding decision in our Report."
Deputy Premier and Minister for Infrastructure Jackie Trad said the delivery of the pipeline report was a major milestone in the Government’s commitment to remove politics from infrastructure planning, following the establishment of Building Queensland in December 2015.
“As an independent organisation, Building Queensland is able to provide our government with impartial and expert advice on where we should invest the state’s infrastructure funds,” the Minister said.
“For the first time, our state now has a clear pipeline of infrastructure projects which have been independently assessed and prioritised based on returns to local communities and our state’s economy.”
She said the Report reaffirms that Cross River Rail is the state's number one infrastructure priority to unlock essential network capacity and increase economic opportunity and productivity for our state.
“The pipeline report also confirms the importance of our recent $634 million commitment in the 2016-17 State Budget to deliver an ETCS which will pave the way for Cross River Rail.
"The Queensland Government set aside an extra $1.5 billion in the Budget for the next phase of priority infrastructure needs, and now that we have received Building Queensland’s pipeline and independent advice we will be making decisions as to how this is allocated in due course.”
The Infrastructure Pipeline Report would be updated by Building Queensland every six months to reflect current infrastructure priorities.
[An artist's impression of the Wollongabba Station on the Cross River Rail. Photo: Queensland Government]