The cost of two major contracts for construction of a new motorway to Sydney’s second international airport has risen by almost $90 million in the latest sign of budgetary pressures on the M12 road project.
State and federal governments are also yet to resolve a dispute over funding for a major junction connecting the new M12 motorway to the M7. The new interchange was one of 17 road and rail projects in NSW that the Commonwealth axed funding for several months ago.
The 16-kilometre M12 motorway will link the M7 to both the new airport and The Northern Road.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Tender documents show the estimated cost of the contract for constructing the central part of the toll-free M12 has risen by $52 million to $463 million, while that for the western section has risen by $36 million to $580 million.
Despite contract costs rising, Transport for NSW said the new motorway between The Northern Road and the M7 remained within its $2.1 billion budget.
The cost of the 16-kilometre M12 motorway to Western Sydney Airport has progressively risen – mostly under the previous Coalition government – since late last decade when it was budgeted at $1.25 billion.
In 2019, the cost of acquiring properties was cited as a major reason for the budget rising to $1.8 billion, while two years later design changes pushed it to more than $2 billion.
The M12 will connect the M7 at Cecil Hills to The Northern Road at Luddenham and give motorists direct access to the new international airport, which is about 50 kilometres from the Sydney CBD.
Coalition roads spokeswoman Natalie Ward said further cost pressures on the M12 motorway would yet again fall on NSW taxpayers to pay the bill.
“The M12, Northern Road upgrade, and new metro line were only the start of the investment required to provide what western Sydney deserves,” she said.
Roads Minister John Graham said the previous government had failed to fund and deliver the critical infrastructure needed to make the new airport a success.
“The NSW government is taking a wider view than the mega toll road obsession of the Liberals and is investing $2.4 billion in western Sydney to accommodate population and employment growth,” he said.
Graham will face questioning at a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday about major road projects including the Rozelle interchange in Sydney’s inner west and a new motorway tunnel in southern Sydney which had a large sinkhole appear above it on Friday.
The M12 motorway is due to open to motorists before planes begin flying to Western Sydney Airport in 2026, and Transport for NSW said construction was over 50 per cent complete.
Construction of the motorway junction between the M12 and the M7 started late last year despite the federal government decision to drop financing for it, leaving a $110 million-plus funding hole.
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