Kurnell and La Perouse ferry wharves blow out by $60m, but project too expensive to cancel

The cost to get a ferry route running across Botany Bay for the first time since the 1970s has skyrocketed - but the NSW Government says it has “no option” but to build the new wharves.

An artist's impression of the Kurnell Wharf. Image: Transport NSW

The NSW Government will forge ahead with plans to revive a Botany Bay ferry route despite the cost blowing out by 333 per cent, with the project unable to be axed without a $46m cancellation fee.

Work on building two new wharves, aimed at reinvigorating tourism in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park by reviving a popular ferry trip last operating in the 1970s, will start this week.

Yet building the new wharves will cost $78m, up from the latest estimate of $65m, according to confidential briefings seen by Transport Minister Jo Haylen shortly after Labor won government in March.

The $78m also soars above the $18m price tag when the project was conceived in 2018, with Ms Haylen saying “this project has a history of continued cost increases under the former Government”.

According to the NSW Government, 98 per cent of the $78m project has already been contracted out – with Ms Haylen saying there was “no option but to continue” as severing agreements now would cost at least $46m.

The new wharves are expected to be complete by 2024. Artist’s impression: Transport NSW

An Opposition spokesman said contracting for the project under the former NSW Liberal Nationals government was done at “arms-length” from ministers.

“The procurement contract here, like major NSW Government procurement contracts generally, was handled at arms-length from government ministers and was the result of going to market under a tender process,” he said.

An artist's impression of La Perouse Wharf. Image: Transport NSW

A Transport NSW spokeswoman blamed the $60m blowout on the large-scale economic pressures which have dogged other major projects in the state.

“Transport for NSW continues to look for the best solution and value for money for the NSW taxpayer,” she said.

“The project has been impacted by economic pressures including an unprecedented demand for skills and resources in the construction sector, oil prices, COVID-19, and economic uncertainty.”

Construction at the site will start on June 22, with the new wharves expected to be completed by late 2024.

Under the plans a 230-metre wharf would be built at Kurnell, with the other 180-metre long wharf at La Perouse.

The wharves will return a regular ferry service to the route from the first time since the 1970s, when a bad storm in 1974 damaged the moorings and led to them falling out of use. 

Mark Speakman, the NSW Opposition leader and Cronulla MP, said earlier this year the new docks would be able to be used by both professional and amateur fishers, as well as aiming to pump up tourism in the national park on both headlands.

“The ferry will allow people to access Kamay Botany Bay National Park by water. The wharves could also be used by small commercial vessels and recreational boats and people wanting to fish from the wharves,” he said.

It’s the latest mega-project to be dogged by cost blowouts in NSW, headlined by the Bankstown to Sydenham Metro conversion soaring $6 billion above earlier forecasts.