Rail, roads and electric vehicle infrastructure detailed in latest State Infrastructure Plan update
The new State Infrastructure Plan will today reveal how electric vehicle owners could soon pay a special tariff for the power they use to charge their cars, alongside an almost $7 billion investment in Cross River Rail.
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AN almost $7 billion investment in the Palaszczuk Government’s signature Cross River Rail project is laid bare in the State’s latest infrastructure plan amid new projects like plans for electric vehicle growth.
State Development Minister Cameron Dick will officially launch the plan on Tuesday, trumpeting the smallest infrastructure budget underspend in a decade at “near-zero per cent” as well as the second highest pipeline of public and private infrastructure projects in the country.
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“More than 160 infrastructure proposals are in the planning phase of the 2019 pipeline, including 67 new projects, and 40 proposals have moved from planning into delivery since 2018 and will be delivered in the next four years,” Mr Dick said of the plan.
“Our careful management will see us achieving a near-zero per cent underspend for 2018-19, the best performance in 10 years.”
The State Infrastructure Plan details exactly where the State’s $12.9 billion infrastructure will go over the next 12 months as well as projects planned over the next four years.
It shows the Cross River Rail project cost at $6.725 billion including an extra $1.479 billion in private sector contributions.
About $1.48 billion will be spent this financial year constructing the underground rail project, jumping to $1.539 billion in 20/21 and then $2.419 billion in the years to 2022/23.
Planning for the future of electric vehicles also features in the plan with new projects in the pipeline including investigating a new electric vehicle tariff as well as the infrastructure needed to support increased electric vehicle usage and how that usage could assist grid stability.
Also included is the new $170 million Military Vehicle Centre of Excellence being built at Ipswich as part of a long-term public-private partnership with the State after Queensland secured the multibillion-dollar Land 400 defence contract.
“Diversifying the economy through embracing new technologies and priority sectors, including advanced manufacturing, defence industries, aerospace, hydrogen, biofutures and other renewables is opening new markets, while we continue to bolster traditional sectors,” Mr Dick said.
This year’s State Infrastructure Plan also includes a detailed breakdown of public and private projects for every region from Cairns, Townsville and the Wide Bay to the Gold Coast.
It follows moves to include more detailed regional breakdowns in the State Budget last month off the back of Labor’s Federal Election drubbing and in the lead up to next year’s State Election where the regions will prove to be electoral battle grounds.
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