Friday, March 29, 2024

Infrastructure Australia report vindicates the position of the Hartley Valley community

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Hartley District Progress Association, Inc., Media Release, 1 November 2022

Infrastructure Australia has released its business case assessment of the East and West sections of the proposed upgrade of the Great Western Highway.

Its findings clearly show the cost of the project will substantially exceed the benefits and investing any more taxpayers’ funds into the project is only squandering more money on a project which was always going to be a white elephant.

The Hartley Valley community has been vindicated by the Infrastructure Australia report and we are delighted the Federal Government’s infrastructure advisor has shown what a nonsense this upgrade of the East and West sections truly is. This is a damning report on the credibility of the information provided to local communities by the NSW Government and its transport agency. IA says ‘based on the evidence provided in the business case, the costs of the East and West sections will exceed the benefits’.

For every dollar spent on the East (Katoomba to Blackheath) and West (Little Hartley to Lithgow) sections, the benefit is only 57 to 68 cents. In other words, the project will be an ongoing cost to the community over the 30-year timeframe of the assessment.

The salient points of the Infrastructure Australia (IA) report are:

  • Transport for NSW’s assessment submission to IA states ‘the net present value of the East and West sections to be -$579.5 million with a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 0.57, representing a net economic cost to society’ over 30 years
  • Based on the data provided by Transport for NSW, IA says ‘we are not confident that the scope of the East and West sections is most appropriate’. IA goes on to say ‘the preferred option (which is the current design) had the second highest net present cost and second lowest BCR of all options considered’
  • Completion of the East and West sections is estimated to reduce travel times between Katoomba and Lithgow by only 5 minutes
  • There are significant risks that the timeframe and budget for the East and West Sections cannot be met given wider market pressures on labour, fuel and materials supply and cost.
  • IA has found that of the four shortlisted options provided to it by Transport for NSW, the ‘do minimum’ option had the highest BCR. IA also found that some benefits were over-stated, prompting an optimism bias which favoured the preferred, current design option.
  • IA’s evaluation conclusion is that the East and West sections should not be part of the Infrastructure Priority List.

What is remarkable about all of this is that the NSW Government knew the project to be a ‘white elephant’, wasting taxpayers funds, but continued to champion the project, as though it was a saviour of the Central West. The project is over-engineered, especially for a rural residential & heritage setting of the Hartley Valley.

Further, communities along the Mountains and in Hartley Valley have been asking for the business case to be released and was told it was confidential. Now we all know why. Exposing the lies and secrecy about all of this is what the IA report does.

There should not be any construction of the East and West sections. The project should be shelved. We know the highly expensive tunnel section is unfunded and the business case for it has yet to be sent to the Federal Government for assessment.

It was the NSW Government’s decision to break-up and assess the 34km Katoomba to Lithgow upgrade into three separate parts. Two of those parts have been shown to be economic failures by the IA report.

Related stories: Infrastructure Australia releases its independent evaluation of nine proposals; Great Western Highway upgrade.

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