State Infrastructure Strategy 2022-2042 | Staying Ahead

State Infrastructure Strategy

2022-2042 | Staying Ahead

Simon Draper | Chief Executive, Infrastructure NSW

Daramu House Solar image: Supplied by Lendlease

In May this year, Infrastructure NSW presented the State Infrastructure Strategy 2022-2042: Staying Ahead (2022 SIS). It sets out Infrastructure NSW’s advice for the coming decades, and its development is now an established feature of good infrastructure planning and decision-making in NSW.

NSW has delivered a suite of transformational infrastructure projects over the past decade. The major rail and road networks have been transformed and many transport projects are currently in delivery. The State’s hospitals, schools, correctional facilities, sporting complexes and cultural assets have all benefitted from strong levels of investment.

Ongoing investment is necessary to keep up with population growth, boost productivity and competitiveness, and accomplish the Government’s social and environmental policy goals. Like many advanced economies, our productivity growth has been below par. In infrastructure, our job is clear:

• Efficient movement of people and materials

• Efficient decarbonisation and climate change adaptation

• Highest and best use of land with good infrastructure

• Get the best out of existing assets for productive purposes

• Competitive digital infrastructure

• Services that support a healthy, educated and engaged population. For all that, delivering infrastructure has become more challenging than ever. In mid-2021 we were looking down the barrel of 17 major projects, comprising 27 contract packages, to be procured from 2021 to 2023. That was a challenging enough task without waves of COVID-19 variants, heavy rainfall, lockdowns in China, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yet despite these events, we have made good progress.

However, each contract involves significant amounts of work from contractors, engineers, architects, sub-contractors and Government. In the foreseeable future, the rate at which large, complex projects can be delivered will be influenced by the effective delivery of existing projects, as well as how successfully government and industry implement procurement practices that de-risk projects, reduce the cost of bidding, draw on capacity of tier 2 and tier 3 contractors and increase the size and skills of the workforce.

Service reliability is a key priority in the 2022 SIS. Recent experience has reminded us that we need to plan better for the unknown, in the certainty that the unknown will eventuate. We know that we face extreme weather events, moving between droughts and fires to floods, pandemics and cybersecurity threats. Good preparation requires better information on which communities and assets are most at risk, defining investment pipelines to maintain, strengthen and duplicate at risk assets, and making multi-year commitments that outlast the latest crisis. In this context, the 2022 SIS proposes increased investment on improvements in technology, augmentation, strengthening of current infrastructure and networks, and structured maintenance.

New Windsor Bridge 2021 - Adam Hollingworth

Infrastructure has a big role to play in housing affordability. We firmly believe Government and investors should capitalise on new transport hubs and metro stations to support new homes, in conjunction with local infrastructure. Established communities and new residents will only support the creation of more housing when they can be sure there will be good amenities and services, green space and thoughtful civic design.

We also need our utilities to transition successfully. For some time, the energy and water sectors were mature, stable and not budget-dependent. This can no longer be guaranteed. In electricity, NSW has a path to net zero, and Australia is now finding one too. New private sector investment is at the core, and investors require confidence that the rules will not change. We should be steadfast in sticking to the market-based principles embodied within the roadmap. Beyond electricity generation, the challenges in transmission are great and novel. We do not build transmission networks of this scale very often, and the places they will pass through require sensitivity and deep community engagement. In that, we can draw on experience and best practice from other infrastructure sectors where we have heavily invested in recent decades, particularly our transport projects.

Water infrastructure needs to be less reliant on regular patterns of rainfall. We know from bitter experience that our rainfall is anything but regular. Recycling, desalination and water efficiency are well-proven sources of water security in other places, but, like electricity, our transition in water will require enormous community engagement to build confidence. This should start now, while the dams are full. Infrastructure itself should transition. Our sector will need new tools and resolve to pursue sustainability. Decarbonising infrastructure assets will have to travel alongside energy and transport on the path to net zero.

The 2022 SIS also urges the State to double-down on data and technology in two ways. First, technology upgrades can offer a solution in their own right, either by expanding the operating capacity of systems or by reducing the need for new physical assets. Second, there are great opportunities in design, public consultation and ongoing management of assets.

In all this we need partners. We should put a premium on projects that generate private sector co-investment, which is often many times greater than our own infrastructure investment, particularly in precincts. Second, we should work with the Commonwealth regarding incremental project planning and long-term funding. Third, Local Government needs support to develop and sustain capability to deliver on their own responsibilities in roads and town water. Finally, the success of our program is tied to a modern and prosperous construction industry. We are proud of the progress made to date and we pledge to continue that work.