By Ehssan Veiszadeh CEO Roads Australia
The NSW Government says it can’t afford to keep up the pace of infrastructure spending we have seen in recent years, but can it really afford not to?
Infrastructure Australia’s latest Infrastructure Market Capacity report, released this week, shows a sharp decline in funding for road, rail and active transport projects.
Nationally, there has been a $32 billion reduction in the transport investment pipeline since last year.
While economic conditions and public debt levels have deteriorated in recent years, building infrastructure has always been tough.
There is always an excuse not to plan and not to take the hard decisions.
Right now, it’s cost of living. Yesterday, it was disruption and the difficulty of change.
These challenges aren’t insignificant, but we can’t lose sight of why we invest in transport infrastructure in the first place.
Transport is the backbone of the NSW economy. Continued investment in our transport system is critical to address the persistent infrastructure gaps in our outer suburbs and regions and to maintain living standards as our population grows.
If we fail to invest, we risk sleepwalking our way into economic mediocrity.
Transformational transport projects such as Sydney Metro, Sydney Gateway and Parramatta Light Rail have opened to the public this year.
These projects bring enormous economic benefits, connecting people with jobs, education and essential services and creating vibrant public spaces.
But there are still many communities that bear the brunt of congested transport corridors, that are crying out for safer roads, or that have no access to any public transport services at all.
The infrastructure boom of the last decade was unprecedented and there has been a necessary course correction in recent years to address cost overruns and ensure Australia’s infrastructure sector can appropriately meet demand.
However, we are now heading too far in the opposite direction. When it comes to our transport future in NSW, we have lost that sense of ambition.
Constrained government budgets should not stop up us from having a long-term plan for the future of our transport system, particularly as it plays such a significant role in improving living standards and enabling access to housing.
Today, more than ever, we need a renewed transport plan to signal to the industry to prepare for the next wave of economic development.
We need to be ambitious about transport again and focus on what our communities stand to gain.
Originally published in the Daily Telegraph on 23 December 2024.