Federal government releases documents on Beerwah to Maroochydore rail project
Three pages of redacted tables have been released in a bid to prove the $3.2bn cost estimate for the Maroochydore to Beerwah rail project while a state Labor minister has likened the release to a “kindy kid’s project”.
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A heavily redacted document has been released as the federal government attempts to call out “lies and misinformation” around estimated costs for a Sunshine Coast rail project.
The state and federal governments are at loggerheads over how much it would cost to build a Beerwah to Maroochydore rail line after the federal budget included $1.6bn for the project.
Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher visited the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday to rubbish claims by the state government that the $3.2bn cost estimate was “plucked out of thin air”.
Mr Fletcher released three pages from a cost analysis completed by WT Consultancy, dated September 2019, which included four heavily redacted tables for the Brisbane to Maroochydore rail.
Two showed the cost of the Beerwah to Caloundra and Caloundra to Maroochydore stages were estimated to cost $1.09bn and $1.82bn respectively.
The government added a 10 per cent contingency to get to the $3.2bn figure.
Speaking at the proposed Maroochydore rail station site near Carnaby St, behind First Choice Liquor, Mr Fletcher said the costings were based on a rigorous and robust assessment.
“What we have shared with you is information that shows how we’ve arrived at those key costs for the two components, Beerwah to Caloundra and Caloundra to Maroochydore,” he said.
Fairfax MP Ted O’Brien called on the state government to commit to half-funding the rail project so it could be delivered before the 2032 Olympic Games.
“The costings have been released … the truth is revealed, the business case figures are there in black and white,” he said.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey denies he had access to the cost analysis and described the federal government’s announcement as an “election stunt”.
It was understood the Department of Transport and Main Roads only had a small number of “observers” as part of the North Coast Connect study.
Mr Bailey said the government should release the full report.
“No responsible government would make a multibillion-dollar funding commitment based on three heavily redacted pieces of paper that looks like a kindy kid’s project,” Mr Bailey said.
“This embarrassing attempt at producing a costing shows the Morrison Government’s federal election rail promise is just a last minute election lie and a rort.”
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Mr O’Brien and Wallace are relying on a rejected and flawed business case its own federal body described as ‘weak’ and most of the business case they are still hiding from Sunshine Coast residents,” Mr Bailey said.
“The Morrison Government’s own advisory body, Infrastructure Australia, rejected the North Coast Connect business case as weak and said they would only review a stronger business case.”
Work has continued on North Coast Connect proposal – to bring rail to Maroochydore – since Infrastructure Australia left it off its priority projects list in 2021 because the economic and delivery did not stack up.
The state and federal governments announced in December a $6m jointly funded study into the project.
Mr Bailey said the state government would use that study to identify the cost of the project.
“We have a joint $6m planning study underway,” he said.
“We’ll maintain faith with that process and make a decision based on a robust assessment from that work.”
The North Coast Connect business case was completed in 2019 by a consortium of developers and engineering firms including SMEC, Stockland Urbis and KPMG.
Mr Fletcher said the original business case was “very detailed”, with about 600 pages.
“We will be releasing extracts so people can judge for themselves … the detailed work that was done to underpin this figure,” he said.
He said Infrastructure Australia’s concern was it was not in the state government’s long term transport strategy.
Mr Fletcher said it was “perfectly standard process” to further refine details for major projects such as rail with more business cases and research.
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