$625m for SA projects – but only half are ready to start, as Treasurer promises spending spree on shovel-ready projects
At least half of the $625m in the Federal Budget for SA construction is for projects that are years off – but the Treasurer has vowed a flood of cash for ‘shovel-ready’ smaller projects in next month’s State Budget.
SA Business
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A slew of smaller infrastructure projects across transport, schools and hospitals will be rolled out in next month’s State Budget to ensure job-creating money hits the ground fast, State Treasurer Rob Lucas says.
The Federal Budget included $625 million in funding for larger infrastructure projects such as the $200 million Hahndorf access upgrade and $100 million towards sealing the Stzrelecki Track.
But the Civil Contractors Federation said at least half of the $625 million is for projects not shovel-ready – such as the Hahndorf project, which is still in the planning phase – and opposition treasury spokesman Stephen Mullighan said our share of the national spend on infrastructure falls to just 3.93 per by 2023.
Mr Lucas said the State Government had a pipeline of major projects, such as the 10-year North-South Corridor project and the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital, but a push on smaller projects would ensure the rubber hit the road on spending over the next one to two years.
Part of this would come from the state’s capacity to win its share of $2 billion in new road safety funding announced in the Budget, with states told by Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this money would come on a “use it or lose it” basis.
Mr Lucas said the Department for Transport had already been working on a list of such projects, and the State Government was “locked and loaded” for when this process began, expected to be in the next month.
South Australia could expect about a $168 million share of that funding, he said.
But a suite of other projects that could be started quickly will be funded in the November 10 State Budget, he said.
Mr Lucas said the state already had a record $12.9 billion infrastructure program under way, which it would build on next month.
“Next month’s Budget will further increase, significantly, infrastructure spending.
“I know there’s been some bellyaching from some commentators and the opposition that we’re not getting enough infrastructure spending,
“We will be bringing out a Budget based on both state and federal commitments, which will see a further increase in the already-record $12.9 billion infrastructure program, which is schools and hospitals and roads and a whole series of sporting infrastructure at the smaller scale, right across the board in terms of public sector infrastructure.
“What we’re looking at doing in the Budget is a very significant increase in small- and medium-sized projects that can be completed, or significantly completed within this two-year stimulus time frame.’’
Mr Lucas said projects as small as patching roads could be started very quickly.
He reiterated the State Government was committed to supporting jobs through its Budget process, and would not be cutting deeply or increasing taxes and fees and charges beyond normal ranges.
Mr Mullighan said SA had been short-changed in the Federal Budget, and by 2022/23, the state’s share of infrastructure funding would crash to just 3.93 per cent – about half of SA’s population share.
Mr Mullighan said if SA had received its population share, it would have pocketed an extra $580 million over four years, on top of the recently announced $625 million stimulus package.
“With the worst unemployment rate in the nation, SA desperately needed a serious boost in infrastructure funding from last night’s budget – but we didn’t get it,” he said.
“Steven Marshall spends a lot of time talking about his ‘special relationship’ with Canberra but once again, South Australian has missed out on his watch.”
Mr Mullighan also said a number of State Government projects, including the final stage of the North-South corridor, the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital and the Port Wakefield overpass, had stalled.
Civil Contractors Federation chief executive Phil Sutherland said the Budget included a “very impressive suite of stimulus measures’’, SA could have received more than $625 million from the $10 billion in federal funding allocated.
“While $625 million is a great deal of money, when compared with the estimated $800 million backlog of road maintenance in SA, it will not make much of a dent in SA’s road network,” Mr Sutherland said.
“It has been described as an economic recovery budget but at least half of the $625 million is destined for SA road projects that are not shovel-ready – with construction likely to be two or three or more years away.
“While SA is to share in the $2 billion road safety funding program, it is of concern, given the slow pace of the SA Department of Infrastructure and Transport bringing projects to the market, that the money is available on a use-it or lose-it basis.
“The CCF (SA) hopes this provides the Department with the sense of urgency required.’’