NEWS
INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA RELEASES LANDMARK 2021 PLAN Infrastructure Australia published its landmark 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan in September, calling for a new wave of infrastructure reform to fully leverage the Australian Government’s historic $110 billion infrastructure spend and drive the national COVID-19 recovery. The 2021 Plan provides Australia’s infrastructure sector with a 15-year roadmap to drive economic growth, maintain and enhance our standard of living and improve the resilience and sustainability of our essential infrastructure. While this is the third in a series of practical roadmaps developed by Infrastructure Australia since 2013, Infrastructure Australia Chief Executive Romilly Madew said the timing of releasing the 2021 Plan was particularly critical. “The 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan is being delivered at a critical moment in our history. The pandemic, bushfires, drought, floods, and cyber-attacks have tested our collective resilience during recent years, while the most recent outbreaks have devastated our CBDs and put us at risk of a recession,” she said. “The 2021 Plan outlines the reforms that will underscore future Australian economic growth. It is focused on identifying the
The 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan provides the infrastructure sector with a 15-year roadmap.
actions required to deliver infrastructure for a stronger Australia and support our national recovery from the still-unfolding COVID-19 pandemic,” Ms Madew said. The reform roadmap outlined in the 2021 Plan reflects an industry consensus that was developed in close collaboration with governments, industry and communities. As part of this, Infrastructure Australia completed a comprehensive engagement program that targeted more than 6,500 community members and industry stakeholders across Australia’s cities and regions. The 2021 Plan includes Waste and Social Infrastructure for the first time, alongside
Energy, Transport, Telecommunications, and Water. It also focuses on three cross-cutting key themes Place (Cities, Regions, Rural and Remote Areas, and Northern Australia), Sustainability and Resilience, and the infrastructure Industry. The 2021 Plan provides Infrastructure Australia’s reform pathway to respond to the 180 infrastructure challenges and opportunities identified in the 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit. Infrastructure Australia will work collaboratively alongside government, industry, and the community to support the implementation of reforms needed in the infrastructure sector. “The challenge of progressing the reforms outlined in the 2021 Plan is a shared one – that is why we stand ready to partner with the Commonwealth, states and territories, local government and industry to support the implementation of reform,” Ms Madew said. “While the Australian Government will respond to the 2021 Plan, many of the actions across water, transport, energy, waste and social infrastructure require action from state and territory or local government. Lasting reform will require increased collaboration.”
NEXT STEPS FOR MELBOURNE’S SUBURBAN RAIL LOOP The Business and Investment Case released for Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) in August has outlined the delivery stages for the project, with the first section of the project to be delivered by 2035. The 90-kilometre rail line will be Victoria’s biggest ever transport investment, linking every major rail line from the Frankston line to the Werribee line, via Melbourne Airport. Three transport super hubs at Clayton, Broadmeadows and Sunshine will connect regional services to SRL, so passengers outside Melbourne won’t have to travel through the CBD. The first two sections of the project, ‘SRL East’ from Cheltenham to Box Hill and ‘SRL North’ from Box Hill to Melbourne Airport are the focus of the SRL Business and Investment Case. The third section from Melbourne 6
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Airport to Werribee is ‘SRL West’. This section is currently in the early stages of planning. Since SRL West will have a key interface with projects underway in Melbourne’s West, including Metro Tunnel, Melbourne Airport Rail, Geelong Fast Rail and the Western Rail Plan, it will be developed in parallel to deliver convenient cross suburb travel. With geotechnical investigations for SRL East underway, construction for the 26-kilometre underground twin tunnel and six underground stations will start in 2022. SRL East is expected to cost between $30 and $34.5 billion across 14 years, expected to be operational by 2035. Subject to further detailed technical design and market capacity, construction can commence on SRL North while SRL East is already under construction and expected
to be completed by 2053. A cost estimate of SRL North project is not included in the assessment. Building SRL East and SRL North is expected to directly contribute up to $58.7 billion in economic, social and environmental benefits to Victoria, in addition to creating an additional 165,000 jobs in SRL Precincts. Victoria is expected to grow to 11.2 million people by 2056 and Greater Melbourne will reach around nine million people – a similar size to London today. SRL East and North will result in more than 230,000 extra public transport trips per day across Greater Melbourne by 2056. The rail line between Cheltenham and Melbourne Airport will carry more than 430,000 passengers daily when SRL North is complete, taking more than 600,000 car trips off our roads every day.
