CityLink 10-year toll extension fight looms

The state government is confident it will be able to pass laws allowing Transurban to reap tolls from CityLink for an extra 10 years in exchange for work on the West Gate Tunnel Project. Here’s why.

Laws to allow tolling giant Transurban to slug ­motorists on CityLink for an extra decade will be brought to state parliament within weeks.

The legislation is part of a deal between the company and the Andrews Government to build the West Gate Tunnel by 2022.

It was revealed today that Transurban collected a record $421 million from CityLink in the final six months of last year — more than $2.3 million a day. This was largely because traffic using the 22km tollway rose by 4.6 per cent.

TRANSURBAN’S CITYLINK TOLL ROAD REAPING $2.3M A DAY

RESIDENTS’ FURY OVER WEST GATE TUNNEL TRUCK RAMPS

TUNNEL-BORING MACHINES NAMED AFTER TRAILBLAZERS

The company has collected more than $8.3 billion from CityLink motorists since it opened in 1999.

Transurban says its West Gate Tunnel deal is reasonable given it is paying $4 billion upfront to build the twin tunnels between the West Gate Freeway and CityLink.

As part of the agreement, Transurban will also be able to hike fees by 4.25 per cent a year from July until 2029, pushing a daily CityLink pass next financial year to $18.60 for a car.

Last term the Coalition and Greens said they would oppose legislation that locked in the tolling extension — which the Opposition says will be worth at least $15 billion by 2035 — and never came to a vote.

Motorists on CityLink face an extra 10 years of tolls under a state government deal with Transurban for the building of the West Gate Tunnel Project. Picture: Bloomberg

The state government will argue it has a mandate to ­deliver the deal, and believes it has the three votes it needs in the upper house to get the laws through parliament.

A government spokeswoman said the West Gate Tunnel Project deal was fair and a massive overhaul of toll enforcement and infringements would result in a better deal for motorists who used CityLink.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said: “Motorists will pay more for Daniel Andrews’ massive cost blowouts on the botched West Gate Tunnel project.”

If state parliament blocks the bid to extend CityLink tolls, Transurban would slash its financial contribution to the West Gate Tunnel and taxpayers would be lumped with a massive “bullet payment” once the road opened in 2022.

[e-mail]