Blank spots show in transport promises

THE Victorian government's $6 billion infrastructure outlay next financial year comes with a number of significant asterisks.

THE Victorian government's $6 billion infrastructure outlay next financial year comes with a number of significant asterisks.

Treasurer Kim Wells said yesterday his first budget "starts to reverse years of neglect of infrastructure by fixing the basics, especially in transport."

Mr Wells referred to $222 million for the first seven of 40 new trains for metropolitan Melbourne, and a further $484m over five years for public transport and rail freight improvements as part of the renewed commitment to infrastructure spending.

He highlighted $600m to be spent on road upgrades over the next four years, and $63m to upgrade regional level crossings and remove unsafe and congested metropolitan ones.

But the cost estimates of some key projects were left blank in the budget papers, making their impact on the state's bottom line difficult to gauge.

While the government said it was prepared to give additional funding to the Regional Rail Link through Melbourne's western corridor and into the regions, the budget had no dollar figure attached to the project. Previous budgets have put the cost at $4.3bn.

Treasury officials said there were contingency funds in place for the project, but a decision had been made not to include a dollar figure in the budget, as it could harm the government's position in contract negotiations.

The capital and running costs of the myki public transport ticketing system, so criticised by the Coalition ahead of last November's election, is also undisclosed as the government looks for a way to rein in the project's price tag.

The budget notes the myki system, which had an original capital cost of $461m plus nearly $900m in operating costs, was "under review", but flagging what the government is prepared to spend on it would be giving away commercially sensitive information.

Mr Wells gave a broad hint yesterday that the government would, reluctantly, persevere with the beleaguered system.

"In regards to myki we are working through this and it is not easy," he said. "Labor left us with a number of financial messes, and myki is one of them . . . We want to make sure that our negotiations are right," the Treasurer said.