Terry McCrann: Andrews must pay the price for new road

IS $8 billion going to be plucked from motorists and given free to Transurban? This simple question can only be answered by an open independent analysis, writes Terry McCrann.

• CityLink owner Transurban set for extra $8bn from Andrews Government
• CityLink toll road rakes in $7bn from Victorian drivers

THE question really is very simple: is $8 billion going to be plucked from motorists and given free to Transurban and its security holders?

It is a question that can only be answered by an open independent analysis in which all the numbers are put on the public record so they can also be checked.

Should the CityLink tolling end in 2025 instead of running all the way to 2035? Or at least, after 2025 should the money flow to the government instead of the lucky private investors in Transurban?

Very simply again, neither Transurban nor the government can be trusted.

WESTERN DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THREAT DUE TO COMPLEX CITYLINK FUNDING DEAL

Is $8 billion going to be plucked from motorists and given free to Transurban and its security holders? Pictures: Tim Carrafa

From Transurban’s perspective, is it going to ’fess up that its tolling should end 10 years early and $8 billion should flow out its door? Oh, yeah, sure. And the sun rises in the west and politicians always keep their promises.

It’s also been far too easy for governments — especially Labor ones — to do deals with Transurban. Transurban pays the upfront bill; the government doesn’t have to borrow.

We all get a new or bigger road. You just let the meter run a few years more.

In the deals between Transurban and the Bracks-Brumby Labor government, Transurban played the government on a break and took it — took you, as both motorist and taxpayer — to the cleaners.

But that was petty cash compared to the huge rip-off — sorry, pay-off — that Transurban is now lining up with the Western Distributor deal.

Not only would Transurban dramatically increase its toll-road footprint, but it gets to have tolls across all of the roads out to 2045 instead of to 2035. And the secret additional pay-off is to guarantee the 2025 early-termination trigger isn’t pulled.

Ultimately there really is only one option. The government has to say ‘no’ to Transurban building the Western Distributor; to borrow the money — at today’s very low interest rates and with its Triple-A borrowing status — and build and operate it separately.

Then we get to see whether CityLink triggers that early 2025 termination clause and motorists get to save $8 billion, or the money at least goes indirectly to taxpayers instead of to Transurban.

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