The soaring cost of Victoria’s transport projects
Whopping budget blowouts for Victoria’s major projects have been revealed — with the troubled West Gate Tunnel one of the worst offenders — and fears are growing worse is to come.
Victoria
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The budgets for transport projects in Victoria blew out by $3.7 billion in the past financial year, while 60 per cent were running at least 12 months late.
The number of delayed projects skyrocketed in 2019-20 compared to the previous year, budget estimates figures show.
Seven major road upgrades were listed as the worst offenders for cost overruns – totalling $1.8 billion in the past financial year.
This includes the trouble-plagued West Gate Tunnel, the Kilmore Bypass, the Mordialloc Freeway and the second stage of the Plenty Rd upgrade.
A report released through the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee has raised fears of what could still be to come, given the fact the state annual infrastructure spend has effectively doubled from 2019-20 levels.
The PAEC report says that 38 per cent of the delayed projects were due to “scheduling conflicts”, which is likely due to the state’s jam-packed infrastructure agenda.
Unforeseen tasks, planning and approvals problems and land acquisition were also blamed.
“The duration of delays is quite significant with the average revision to completion date an increase of one year and two months,” the committee report says.
Opposition transport infrastructure spokesman David Davis said poor scoping of projects was contributing to costly delays.
“Labor have lost control of these projects with them overwhelmingly running late, delayed or registering horrific cost blowouts.
“They can’t manage money or projects especially where they are making up as they go without proper scoping or planning.
“Proceeding without proper business cases, signing contracts that are open ended contractor picnics as Labor have done repeatedly is disastrous.”
Speaking about infrastructure blowouts when unveiling the most recent state budget, Treasurer Tim Pallas defended the government’s record but said there were a number of factors causing cost pressures.
This included finding workers with the correct skills in a crowded market, demand for materials and resources, and flexibility for managing risk across different projects.
A spokeswoman for the Andrews government said the problem was one faced around the world.
“Latest research shows that more than half of major transport infrastructure projects around the world exceed their estimated cost – in recent years our major infrastructure program has shifted just 4 per cent in net terms,” she said.
“Victoria’s Big Build delivers a massive investment into our economy – supporting thousands of jobs.”
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