Roads Australia seeks a co-ordinated, ‘open book’ approach to the ongoing planning and roll-out of the major road and rail infrastructure projects announced in tonight’s Budget.
Ray Fisher, President of Roads Australia, said tonight:
“We congratulate Infrastructure Australia and the Rudd Government on bringing this first round of projects to the starting line in such difficult economic circumstances. These projects have the potential to deliver enormous, long-term economic and social benefit to the country as a whole.
“However, we’d like clarity from the Government on which projects are fully funded and which depend on further contributions from the states and territories and/or the private sector.
“State and territory governments, in particular, already make a substantial financial contribution to the national road network, in addition to funding the construction, renewal and maintenance of their own arterial road networks."
Mr Fisher says it's imperative that the Federal Government continue to work closely with all stakeholders - government and private - to ensure timely, realistic outcomes in the delivery of its nation building agenda.
“In particular, we urge all governments - Federal, state and territory - to continue to plan and schedule these and future projects in such a way as to deliver a smooth, reliable pipeline of works around which the road industry can marshall its resources.
“We don’t want to go back to the ‘famine or feast’ cycle of infrastructure building. It doesn’t deliver the best value-for-money outcomes for the taxpayer, nor does it provide job surety for the industry.
“We hope all governments can build on the spirit of co-operation that’s evident through the Australian Transport Council (ATC) and Council of Australian Governments (COAG), and work together with industry to develop a transparent, co-ordinated national plan for delivering these works.”
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Tuesday May 12th 2009 9:44pm