South Australian government to ask business to seal Strzelecki Track from Lyndhurst to Innamincka

SOUTH Australia has opened the door to private sector funding for new road projects as the Federal Government steps up its push for the state to adopt tolls. What do you think - take our poll

SOUTH Australia has opened the door to using private sector cash as a funding source for new road projects as the Federal Government steps up its push for the state to adopt tolls.

The Advertiser can reveal the State Government will consider asking business to directly contribute funds to sealing of the Strzelecki Track, which connects Lyndhurst to Innamincka, in a project seen as critical to unlocking new activity in the Cooper Basin resource sector.

The project would seal 450km of road at an estimated cost of $450 million and allow all-weather access to a region that is highly-prospective for new oil and gas projects.

The State Government in February confirmed it had submitted a Strzelecki Track business plan to Infrastructure Australia, a top-level Federal Government advisory body.

SA is also developing plans for the Northern Connector, which would link the Port River and Northern expressways.

However, Federal Assistant Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Jamie Briggs has warned both projects will struggle to get off the ground without tolls and has written to the State Government offering support from his department to develop “private sector financing options”.

Mr Briggs on Thursday told The Advertiser there was “no golden goose in Canberra who is just going to keep doling out billions of dollars worth of infrastructure investment”.

“We have to find new ways to get more done,” he said. “If you look in the Budget, every mainland state other than South Australia had a project with the private sector involved.

“If they (the SA Government) are just expecting large lumps of Federal Government money in the future to do what they say is a priority, they’re kidding themselves.”

SA Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan yesterday insisted the state did not have enough traffic to justify toll roads but would consider ways to access private funds.

“I’ve made it clear ... that this Government does not support tolls, in particular on the Northern Connector,” he said. “We don’t have sufficient traffic volumes to make them stack up.

“However, given the reliance of Cooper Basin operators on the Strzelecki Track, there may well be an opportunity for the private sector to contribute directly to the cost of any upgrade.

“I look forward to discussing this with Assistant Minister Briggs.”

The State Government’s 30-year transport and Holden jobs plan identify the Strzelecki Track upgrade as a priority project to “support the expected increase in mining extraction and further commercialisation of oil and gas resources over the next two decades in this region”.

SA Chamber of Mines and Energy chief executive Jason Kuchel said sealing the Strzelecki track would promote new exploration in the Cooper Basin and boost the state’s service sector.

“At the moment, getting goods into the Cooper Basin and getting oil out is entirely weather dependent,” he said. “That’s the sort of thing that people look at as to whether they’re going to spend money exploring and bother to come there in the first place.

“At the present time, there is better access from Queensland, so the reality is that ... there are a lot of companies who would prefer to service their operations out of Queensland.”

Leading industry groups the Australian Logistics and SA Freight councils last week said they would be willing to pay a truck-only toll on new roads that boosted business productivity.

Sixty-six per cent of more than 400 respondents to The Advertiser’s Northern Fightback survey said delivering the Northern Connector project was critical to economic growth in the area.