Gold Coast light rail Stage 4: Cost of tram extension from Burleigh Heads to airport revealed
The Gold Coast Mayor and City CEO are urging haste and expressing surprise after revelations a state upper estimate to get light rail to Gold Coast Airport is $7.6bn. Read their reactions
Transport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Transport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Light rail stage 4 to the Gold Coast Airport is being forecast to cost up to $7.6 billion in a giant blowout on what City of Gold Coast expected.
State Government and Gold Coast City Council sources had warned the Bulletin the cost of the Burleigh to Coolangatta tram route would tip way beyond the City’s previously anticipated cost estimate of $2.7bn.
Those sources had this week predicted the project could now cost more than $3 billion and at least $4 billion if not much more - but Transport Minister Bart Mellish is revealing the upper estimate at $7.6 billion. The City of Gold Coast has always worked on an 11 per cent contribution towards the total cost, which had been expected to be $2.7 billion to $3 billion.
But a City source said this week: “We’ve been factoring in $4 billion for at least a year - everything is going up.”
Mr Mellish, who had declined to give financial details to the Opposition in a Question on Notice in the Parliament, finally on Tuesday morning provided the actual estimates to the Bulletin.
The State Government will progress to a detailed business case to be completed in late 2025.
“It does have an estimated cost of $4.4 billion, with a cost rage that is $3.1 billion to $7.6 billion,” he said.
“We will move to a full business case and this is a priority project but we have to see what the cost will be before we jump in feet-first.
“When we are talking about the business case, it is important to have eyes-wide-open about what we are going into. It has a good cost benefit ratio.”
Mr Mellish said the State Government aimed to have the project completed and operational in time for the 2032 Olympic Games.
“The full business case will begin soon and is an 18-month process which is long but it will nut into the geotechnical detail of where the tram will cross the road and how we do the creek crossings,” he said.
A cost challenge will be the Tallebudgera and Currumbin bridges, he said.
“Stages 1-2 have been really well-received and we are really keen to see Stage 3 completed (in late 2025). The benefits this will bring to the southern Gold Coast will be substantial,” Mr Mellish said.
Mayor Tom Tate said he was pleased the detailed business case would be fast tracked.
“I’m still of the belief the earlier we start the cheaper it will be. The longer we leave the escalation (of costs) will make it much more difficult,” he said.
Mr Tate said he still believed the best way forward was to build the creek crossings first.
Asked for his reaction to the newly released state estimates, City of Gold Coast CEO Tim Baker said: “This is higher than what the City (of Gold Coast) expected.
“We always had an expectation it would go higher - but this is certainly higher than our expectation.”
At a later press conference on Tuesday after his earlier comments, Mr Mellish added Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 4 could cost the same amount as the government’s flagship underground Cross River Rail project.
Mr Mellish added the preliminary business case for the project had landed on a cost range of $3.1bn to $7.6bn, with the upper end well above the $6.3bn slated for Cross River Rail - the state’s most expensive infrastructure project to date.
“I agree with you that there is a substantive cost to this project,” he said.
“This is really getting up there in terms of the dollar figure on a major piece of transport infrastructure, and we really need to consider that for a proper budget process – we’d really need to look at this business case before we jump in and commit to this project.”
Asked whether there was a cost limit the state government was prepared to go to, the Transport Minister said “it’s not for me to put a dollar figure on it at this point in time”.
“But we really do have to consider going forward at this point in time the viability of projects where they do have A really large cost estimates, versus what the benefit would be for the broader transport network.
“This is a tricky project – there’s no doubt.”
But Mr Mellish also said the Gold Coast City Council would have to answer where their project estimate of $2.7bn came from – saying it was not from state’s transport department.
“Gold Coast would have to answer those questions as to where their estimates came from, my understanding is that it hasn’t come from TMR,” he said.
“The preliminary business case is the first time that the state has estimated this project, that it has undertaken an assessment of this project.
“So earlier estimates from the Council, I’m not sure of the veracity of those.”
In previous official statements by the council, Mayor Tom Tate was quoted in August, 2022 saying: “$100 million is a conservative estimate and I believe the savings could be substantially more given the current estimate for stage 4 is $2.7 billion. The quicker we can put to tender these major capital works items (two bridges and wildlife overpass), the cheaper they will be to build.’’
In March 28, 2022, Acting Mayor Donna Gates said: “Importantly, we have forward planned for our commitment towards Stage 4 of the light rail. That will be around $270 million of Council funds going towards the $2.7 billion final stage of this project.”
Transport sources have explained how funding delays have caused the upper end of the newly released State costings.
The delay in getting final approval for funding from the Federal Government was preventing work continuing when Stage 3 construction finishes at Burleigh, by 2025.
A Department of Transport and Main Roads source claimed: “The (State) Government have been sitting on the cost of this since the middle of last year.
“That cost factored in starting early works late last year, to ramp up once construction of Stage 3 is complete. That hasn’t occurred and material costs have increased significantly.”
Mr Mellish earlier said a preliminary cost for the light rail Stage 4 project had been provided via the preliminary business case.
“The final cost will be established through a detailed business case, as is appropriate for a project of this complexity,” he said.
“This work will be underway shortly, following consideration of the preliminary business case findings.
“We will work with our partners, including Gold Coast City Council and the Australian Government, on next steps for this project.
“Our focus is firmly on delivering Stage 3 of Gold Coast Light Rail for the central and southern Gold Coast.”
Capital funding is yet to be committed for Stage 4, and will be considered in future budgets after completion of the detailed business case. Commitments are needed from all three levels of government.
Opposition transport spokesman Steve Minnikin earlier this month asked Mr Mellish the total project cost for light rail Stage 4 along with cost-benefit projections and patronage numbers.
Mr Minnikin in his Question on Notice to the Parliament said the preliminary business case on light rail State 4 was completed in November.
He asked if Mr Mellish would release it “in the interests of openness and accountability”.
The Minister, in his answer this week, said the preliminary business case was under review by the Department of Transport and Main Roads.
“The outcomes of the preliminary business case will be made available to the community once the review is completed,” he said.
“From here, there will be a need for further planning, including public consultation and detailed business case, which will provide detailed information on cost benefits, Benefit Cost Ratio and patronage projections.”
Bonney MP Sam O’Connor, who has kept watch on costing and delays for the Coomera Connector, said Labor’s failures were putting the city’s lifestyle at risk.
“Gold Coasters can’t trust Labor to deliver projects on time or on budget and it means we are all going to be spending more time in traffic,” he said.
“Clearly their Labor mates in Canberra don’t even trust them anymore, because we still don’t know if the Coomera Connector will get the federal funding it needs to be delivered.”
Steve Harrison, the chairman of the Gold Coast Light Rail Business Advisory Group, said 2024 was a “critical year” for progressing the tram.
“The state is looking at the preliminary business case study, which is with the Minister’s office right now, is the first step towards realising construction,” he said.
“Having the state’s support will allow us to proceed to the detailed business case and we know the funding is already in place from both council and the state for this, so we will just need to secure the federal funding.
“It’s been named a priority project by Infrastructure Australia and if we want to get it built, tested and operational by 2032, then having it approved now and moving to the detailed case will be critical.”
Hit and run: Police hunt driver in Pimpama e-scooter crash
A teenager has been taken to hospital after they were knocked from their e-scooter on the Gold Coast in an alleged hit and run.
Speed limit dropped on highway
The speed limit has been dropped to 50km/h on a key section of the Gold Coast Highway, with new infrastructure being installed to monitor how fast vehicles are going. Here’s what you need to know.