CityLink toll road rakes in $7bn from Victorian drivers
MELBOURNE drivers have coughed up almost $7 billion to Transurban since the CityLink toll road opened.
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TRANSURBAN has milked close to $7 billion in revenue from motorists since the CityLink toll road opened.
The latest financial update from Transurban shows its most lucrative asset generated $340 million revenue for the six months to last December, a 2.7 per cent rise on the same period a year earlier.
A rise in tolls more than offset a 0.7 per cent decline in traffic, which was linked to disruptions around the CityLink-Tullamarine road widening project, Transurban reported on Tuesday.
Total revenue earned from the 22km CityLink since it opened in 1999 is $6.75 billion, an analysis of Transurban accounts shows. This include fees and advertising, though most of it is from tolls.
From April, truck drivers will be slugged with hefty toll rises to help finance CityLink-Tullamarine road-widening.
And Transurban is in discussions with the state government to extend its lucrative CityLink concession for at least a decade to help fund the planned $5.5 billion Western Distributor project.
Chief executive Scott Charlton said he remained confident the project would be bedded down by early 2018.
This is despite the opposition threatening to block an extension unless more details of financing are made public.
“We think Victoria supports a project that really deals with a major congestion issue in Melbourne, which is the Westgate Freeway, which impacts every driver on the Melbourne network,” Mr Charlton said.
“We’re not in the game of politics. We think the project speaks for itself … we remain confident with the outcome.”
He said Transurban would likely tap investors for fresh capital to help fund its contribution of $3.5 to $4 billion.
Nationally Transurban, which operates toll roads in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, earns close to $1 billion from motorists per six months.
Revenue rose 26 per cent to $1.3 billion for the six months to December, compared with the same period a year earlier.
Net profit surged 42 per cent to $88 million.
Transurban upgraded its expected full-year dividend payment by 13 per cent to 51.5c.
Investors cheered the news: shares in the $22 billion toll road giant surged by more than 6 per cent to $11.04.
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