Canberra set to go on Sydney’s Badgerys Creek airport if needed

The government has met construction companies, a sign it is preparing for an immediate start on Sydney’s second airport.

Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher.

The federal government has met with nine of the country’s largest construction companies in the past three weeks, a sign that it is preparing for an immediate start on Sydney’s second airport, should it be left to take on the $5 billion project.

Ahead of a May 8 deadline for the Sydney Airport Corporation to say whether it will knock back its option on the Badgerys Creek airport, Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher revealed yesterday that he and federal offic­ials had met construction firms as part of the government’s contingency planning.

“If (SAC) does not accept the notice of intention, the Turnbull government is ready — and we have done a lot of work so that we can ensure our timetables are met,” Mr Fletcher told the Committee for Sydney. “I am personally very confident that there is strong interest in this project from the construction sector.”

The Weekend Australian revealed last Saturday that several funding options were being considered should the government take on construction, including models based on the corporatised Snowy Mountains Scheme or an off-budget NBN Co model.

Mr Fletcher said the government was “working hard to meet our goal of the airport being operational by 2026”.

In 2014, the then Abbott government­ pledged to build Western Sydney Airport after a community push for the city’s second­ major airport.

Mr Fletcher said the federal and NSW governments were “well advanced on a scoping study” into the rail needs of western Sydney and the airport. Badgerys Creek is about 50km west of Sydney’s CBD.

“What is the right route, when should it be built, how much will it cost and how should it be funded? The discussion paper issued last year has generated considerable interest,” he said. The study is to report back this year.

Mr Fletcher said work in progress at the site would ensure it was “completely empty so that it is ready for construction”.

“We have put a lot of effort into tracking community sentiment concerning Western Sydney Airport. According to our most recent data, over 80 per cent of people in western Sydney support or are neutral to the new airport.

“This data is supported by the feedback I received when, earlier this year, I met individually with all of the councils in the areas ­surrounding the airport: Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Liverpool, Penrith and Wollondilly.

“While some councils maintain a formal position of oppos­ition to the airport, that is not the majority sentiment which I detected­ in these meetings.”

He said the airport would not be “designed by public servants in Canberra”. The government would weigh its options to deliver an airport by 2026. If it took on the project, the next steps would be indicat­ed very soon.

Mr Fletcher said the airport would generate almost 9000 direc­t jobs by the early 2030s and 60,000 jobs long-term.

It will feature a 3700m runway capable of carrying large commercial passenger aircraft, including the A380 and 747. The terminal will have capacity for 10 million passengers a year.