State government leaders have been battered with questions about the future of the suburban rail loop in the wake of a critical report raising doubts about the multi-billion-dollar projects viability. The nation’s top infrastructure advisory body has raised a series of red flags about it – endangering the Victorian Government’s bid for commonwealth funding.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00To its backers, the Premier's signature project will deliver benefits for generations to come.
00:07This is a multi-decade, multi-generational project.
00:11But the SRL's critics are again sharpening their knives.
00:15It's a blistering assessment of Jacinta Allen's vanity project.
00:19The Commonwealth has already unlocked $2.2 billion for the project's $35 billion first stage,
00:26linking Cheltenham to Box Hill.
00:28Now, a sceptical report from Infrastructure Australia
00:32has cautioned against further federal funding without some economic homework.
00:37This is a review that the Australian Government takes really seriously.
00:40We are on time, we are on budget.
00:42It found the state may have overstated the SRL's benefits and underestimated its price tag.
00:48That's only added to questions over how the state government will finance it.
00:52It's committed to funding a third of the project's cost,
00:55another third set to come from value capture, levies paid by local developers,
01:00which Infrastructure Australia questioned.
01:02And the final third would come from the federal government,
01:05which was sounding cautious today.
01:07As for further funding, the minister's made it really clear
01:10that that will be the subject of discussion
01:12and the Victorian Government will need to come forward
01:15and just explain some of what's in that report.
01:17The Commonwealth Government should not back such a flawed process and product.
01:24In its report, Infrastructure Australia said the state government
01:27needed to hand over more details on the project's cost,
01:30its financing and its return on investment if more Commonwealth funding is to flow.
01:35It's also been urged to come up with an exit plan for the project in case it folds.
01:40The responsible minister was repeatedly asked
01:43if those specific pieces of work were underway today.
01:46We will continue to work with Infrastructure Australia,
01:49particularly on a funding and finance strategy.
01:52Tunnel boring is set to begin next year,
01:55the government digging deeper into its signature project.