Brisbane Metro budget blowout costs ratepayers $64 million

Delays to Brisbane Metro have cost ratepayers $64 million, as the council blames the state government's slow processes for stalling a project that has already blown its budget by $300 million.

The project hit a wall in June last year, when lord mayor Adrian Schrinner came out swinging against the state government, blaming it for additional costs and delays.

The Brisbane Metro increased in cost from $944 million to $1.2 billion earlier this year.Credit: Brisbane City Council

But it was all smiles by June this year, when a peace deal was reached that removed the sticky topic of the $1.2 billion transport project's centrepiece station — a proposal to put all buses and metro vehicles underground at the Cultural Centre in South Brisbane.

With the council and state agreeing to postpone the planned underground station in favour of smaller changes to the existing above-ground station at the south end of the Victoria Bridge, progress was suddenly back on the table.

But on Tuesday, the council's public and active transport committee heard the year-long delay had cost the council $64 million, and will likely cost more.

"We've been project-ready for about a year, so we've had about a year's delay," Brisbane Metro project director Stephen Hammer told councillors.

"That's extra people, extra time, design effort, tender costs, all those types of things.

"... That has required, in particular, quite a financial burden on construction companies for the cost of disposing of waste."

The council and state have now signed several agreements to begin work, requiring a "collaborative process" to design the Cultural Centre station, and the council to install shade structures on Victoria Bridge. A park at 125 Grey Street, next to the train station, will also be installed under the agreement.

South Brisbane residents will also have free tolls on the Go Between Bridge during construction.

The council will also be required to develop more strategies to manage fare evasion. The metro vehicles are expected to have all-door boarding with tap-on card readers, which Mr Hammer said "potentially" created an increased risk of fare evasion.

"We are also required to reimburse the cost of [Transport and Main Roads'] interactions with Brisbane City Council as part of delivering the project," he said.

"So a cost reimbursement will be put in place for that, and an agreed process for network planning and service changes, which is quite a significant part of the project."

Public transport committee chairman Ryan Murphy told Brisbane Times the "onerous" state-imposed condition required the council to reimburse the wages of TMR employees working with the Metro project.

A full figure for those employee costs is not yet available, but the new requirements from TMR will need to go before the council again in the future for approval.

Cr Murphy also questioned the timing of the state government's sign-off on the Metro approvals, days before election caretaker mode began.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the Metro project covered a "significant portion of inner Brisbane, so getting the design of public spaces around it right is critical too".

"Many of the changes requested by the state were to reinstate elements at King George Square, Buranda and Griffith University stations," he said.

"These elements were cut out of the Metro plans by Brisbane City Council in 2020 when they proposed to delay undergrounding of the Cultural Centre station.

"These elements needed to be reinstated to stop the busway clogging up when the longer metro vehicles go into service."

Mr Bailey said the council was "warned" not to go to tender in 2019 without the state's approvals, but those issues had been resolved.

In the committee, opposition leader Jared Cassidy asked how much of the final transport network would be underground as originally proposed.

Mr Hammer said the Adelaide Street tunnel would bring about 300 metres of underground travel to Metro, while about 200 metres of planned underground tunnel at the Cultural Centre would not go ahead.

Cr Murphy suggested the Brisbane Metro project was never specifically about putting buses underground, but rather about "addressing a strategic transport infrastructure concern".