Investing in Australia's infrastructure has been described as the "centrepiece for the 2009-10 Budget" by the Australian government. Representing the most significant infrastructure package in the country's history, the government is investing $22 billion to improve the quality, adequacy and efficiency of transport, communications, energy, education and health infrastructure.
The Budget announcements supporting 15 new road, rail and port projects will give the construction industry a welcome stimulus and provide the nation with important new assets, says the president of the Australian Constructors Association, Wal King.
The government is investing in nine metropolitan rail projects across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast. It is also investing $27.7 billion through the Nation Building Program and Building Australia Fund, including $3.4 billion to enhance the safety and efficiency of the national road network.
$339 million has been set aside for the development of Oakajee port and rail common use infrastructure, near Geraldton in Western Australia, to support growing demand for internationally competitive export infrastructure. A further $14.7 billion is being invested in education infrastructure such as multi-purpose halls, science laboratories and language learning centres.
King said that the projects announced, when combined with the proposed National Broadband Network and the government's Nation Building announcements, will do much to restore confidence in the infrastructure market. As part of the National Broadband Network, the government has established a company that will invest up to $43 billion over eight years to build and operate a national wholesale-only, open-access broadband network. The government's objective is to provide broadband services to 90 per cent of all Australian homes, schools and workplaces that will allow speeds of 100 megabits per second.
King congratulated the government on the success of the Infrastructure Australia initiative that had identified 14 of the 15 newly funded projects. "It is important that Infrastructure Australia now turns its hand to addressing the many planning and regulatory hurdles that inhibit infrastructure development in Australia to ensure the government's infrastructure priorities are delivered as quickly as possible," he said.
