Media reaction to state budgets delivered this week in NSW, Queensland and SA has been mixed.
The Courier Mail’s editorial said the record spending announced in the Queensland Budget in areas like transport, while welcomed, was as much about catch-up for years of under resourcing.
The Sydney Morning Herald’s editorial noted that more than $1.1 billion of the planned $13.9 billion infrastructure spend announced in the NSW Budget was carried over from the previous year – and suggested that the government’s underspending had a lot to do with the limited availability of construction resources because of competition from other big spending states.
On a more positive note, the Adelaide Advertiser welcomed the SA Budget as 'the most positive and constructive…for a quarter of a century', saying it addressed areas of long-term neglect, including public transport and roads.
In other news, today’s Australian Financial Review reported on the latest AIG – HIA performance of construction index results, which recorded another sharp fall in May.
State budgets handed down this week in NSW, Queensland and SA have each promised major spends on infrastructure.
In Queensland, the State Budget allocated $17 billion in 2008/09 for infrastructure, including $3.235 billion for roads.
Highlights of the promised road spend included:
For more details of the Queensland Budget, go to the Government's budget website.
In NSW, major road spending allocations for 2008/09 included $40 million for M5 East Filtration and $40 million towards the start of the Victoria Road upgrade.
Pacific Highway commitments included:
For more information on the NSW Budget, go to the NSW Treasury website.
In SA, Treasurer Kevin Foley announced a record $1.6 billion (comprising $700 million from the State, coupled with Federal funding) would be spent on roads in the next four years.
Key features of the budget for roads were:
For more information on the SA Budget, go the Government's website.
The traffic began flowing this week on the seven-kilometre Tugun Bypass on Queensland's Gold Coast.
Qld Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt said he expected the $543 million project, completed six months ahead of schedule, to make an immediate difference to traffic flows on the southern Gold Coast.
The new road is expected to carry between 35,000 and 40,000 vehicles a day, with daily traffic projected to rise to 60,000 cars a day by 2017. It is also expected to save motorists an estimated $1.9 billion in reduced travel times and vehicle operating costs.
The Tugun Bypass was funded by the Queensland Government ($423 million) and the Australian Government ($120 million).
Meantime, the Queensland Government this week announced additional works that will increase a section of Brisbane’s Gateway Upgrade Project from four to six lanes.
The 1km section to be upgraded is north of the new airport interchange and includes a 740m bridge over the Kedron Brook floodplain. The addition of the new lanes will improve access to and from the airport, the Government says.
The 12-member Infrastructure Australia Advisory Council met for the first time this week.
The work program laid down by COAG calls on IA to meet the following deadlines:
In the wake of this week’s State Budget, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt have released the 2008-09 to 2012-13 Roads Implementation Program (RIP), Main Roads’ five-year roadmap for construction throughout the State.
The five-year plan commits to $16.2 billion in roads spending - $12 billion from the State Budget and $4.2 billion from the Federal Government.
The program includes $7.9 billion for projects to cater for the rapidly-growing south-east Queensland region and help manage the impacts of urban traffic growth, including $4 billion for projects to support the $107 billion South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program.
Another $5.8 billion will be poured into improving local and freight connections across regional, rural and remote areas of the state.
The 2008-09 to 2012-13 Roads Implementation Program includes projects outlined in Tuesday’s 2008-09 State Budget, as well as road projects commencing in 2009-10 and beyond.
For more information on the RIP, go to the Main Roads website.
BMD Constructions is the latest organisation to join ARF’s swelling ranks.
BMD Constructions is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BMD Group - Australia’s largest privately owned civil construction and urban development organisation. The company provides civil engineering construction services to the public and private sector for a diverse range of infrastructure projects.
BMD Constructions is currently an alliance partner in four major road projects in Queensland, including the $700m SAFElink Alliance (with the Department of Main Roads, Leighton Contractors, Maunsell AECOM and Arup) to upgrade the Ipswich Motorway from Wacol to Darra, and the $170m Tully Alliance to upgrade the Bruce Highway from Corduroy Creek to Tully High School (with the Department of Main Roads, Albem and Maunsell AECOM).
Despite high world oil prices and major efforts to develop alternative fuels, the world's car fleet will continue to be powered predominantly by fossil fuels over the next 40 to 50 years, participants at an international Climate Change Summit in Canberra were told this week.
The Director General of the world's peak motoring body, David Ward, told the Australian Automobile Association summit that there were still major oil reserves and this would continue to be the major vehicle fuel through to 2050.
The summit, On the Road to Greener Motoring, heard a number of speakers discussing the Climate Change challenge and the best way to bring down vehicle emissions.
Mr Ward told the summit that, despite the high prices and concerns about oil reserves, "there is still a lot of barrels out there".
"Frankly I think the concerns about dwindling oil reserves are exaggerated. The key issue is extraction – getting it out," he said.
That view was challenged by BP's Biofuels Project Director, Frank Russell, who said it was important to be developing alternative and next generation fuels.
"Australia's conventional fuels are about as clean as they are ever going to get – we need to start planning now for next-generation fuels like hydrogen," Mr Russell said.
Several speakers highlighted the important role of Government and industry in achieving reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Local Government and Regional Development, Anthony Albanese, said he was looking forward to working with AAA in developing a climate change solution.
The AAA clubs supported the Federal Government's Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme, as long as this was conditional on reform of fuel taxes and motoring-related costs, with all sectors included in the Trading Scheme. The summit was told the AAA does not want to see carbon prices added to existing fuel excise.
The AAA issued a Summit Communique, which highlighted issues raised during the day and some activities the AAA clubs were undertaking to lower emissions.
The Communique can be viewed and downloaded from the AAA website.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Friday June 6th 2008 3:37pm
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