New Transurban boss Michelle Jablko believes it can play a crucial role in rolling out infrastructure projects

New Transurban boss Michelle Jablko believes the toll roads operator can play a crucial role in rolling out infrastructure to avoid Australian cities being choked by expected massive population growth.

Incoming Transurban boss Michelle Jablko believes the toll roads operator can play a crucial role in rolling out infrastructure projects to avoid Australian cities being choked by expected massive population growth, with road transport to play an “important part” in the smooth running of our biggest cities.

Ms Jablko’s comments came as the group released its latest traffic figures for its Australian and US toll roads over the September quarter, which pointed to a continued opening up of the economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic as more car and truck drivers hit the road.

Transurban delivered its highest ever quarterly average daily traffic (ADT) of 2.5m trips per day.

Transurban revealed that average traffic numbers were up 3 per cent over the quarter as traffic in Sydney and Melbourne increased on the prior quarter, with Melbourne traffic the highest since before Covid-19. Brisbane delivered its highest traffic performance to date across car and large vehicle traffic volumes, and on weekday and weekend travel, benefiting from continued population growth and a strong economy.

Ms Jablko said the nation’s largest toll roads operator was now focused on how the company could participate in that growing economy, large population growth and growing need for infrastructure, with Transurban needing to be seen as a “long-term trusted partner” by government and business.

Incoming Transurban CEO Michelle Jablko.

Speaking to The Australian before the Transurban annual general meeting in Melbourne on Thursday, her first as the CEO designate, she said there was “enormous potential for growth” for Transurban in this field.

“Sydney is going to grow 25 per cent out over the next 20 years. Melbourne and Brisbane, one and half or two times that, potentially even more, there’s talk of Melbourne having 9 million people by 2050, Sydney being I think 10 million out over that time.

“So that’s a lot of growth and with that population growth people are going to need to move around, and they’re going to need goods moved around. And we think road transport should play an important part in that growth,” she told The Australian.

Outgoing Transurban boss Scott Charlton has made similar comments and signalled that as federal and state governments face increasing strains on their budgets, that private companies such as Transurban could play a role in building and operating infrastructure to service the growth in population and the economy.

“So what I’m really focused on is how we participate in that growth,” Mr Jablko said on Thursday. “All of that leads to enormous potential for growth for us.”

Ms Jablko’s appointment as CEO is the first internal CEO appointment in Transurban’s history. She joined Transurban in early 2021 as chief financial officer, after being CFO at ANZ for just under five years.

Ms Jablko said on Thursday that Transurban needed to have the best customer value proposition and be a trusted partner of government and business to cater to this infrastructure drive.

She told shareholders that investment in infrastructure would be essential to prepare for population growth.

“While a huge challenge for our cities, it also presents us with the opportunity to work with our stakeholders to come up with solutions that meet their needs, including new development opportunities. Delivering and operating tangible infrastructure that provides value to customers and the wider community, is one of the many things that attracted me to Transurban and is something we have a lot of experience in.”

Outgoing Transurban CEO Scott Charlton. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Turning to the rise in traffic volumes on its Australian roads for the September quarter, Ms Jablko said the record rate of 2.5 million trips per day on its toll roads comes as traffic has been steadily increasing, with truck volumes the highest ever.

“This is a good sign, and despite the fact that port volumes have been a bit lower, there are still trucks moving around the cities.”

She said that smaller delivery trucks were also still strong, suggesting the ongoing demand for e-commerce.

“We are seeing Brisbane continue to be a real highlight for us, and it was around 4 per cent growth for the quarter, and that’s across all measures, so cars, heavy vehicles, weekdays weekends, and Brisbane is I think a real sign of two things: population growth and the strong economy.”

Ms Jablko said that its toll roads closer to the cities, mostly Sydney and Melbourne, showed continued improvement and bouncing back from Covid-19 lockdowns. But Melbourne Airport wasn’t at full capacity and road construction was disrupting some traffic numbers.

At the AGM, Transurban chairman Craig Drummond said the company was disappointed the competition regulator had recently announced it would block the toll road company’s plan to acquire a majority stake in the operator of Melbourne toll road EastLink, but did not signal if the company might fight the decision.

“I would also like to briefly touch on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s recent announcement that it opposes Transurban acquiring a majority interest in Horizon Roads, the owner of EastLink. The decision is specifically in relation to the acquisition of a majority interest in EastLink. As previously announced, we are closely reviewing the decision and considering all options available to us.”

Transurban also reaffirmed guidance for 2024 that distribution was expected to be 62c a share, representing approximately 7 per cent growth on 2023.