A war of words has erupted over the cost - and timeline - of a multi-billion dollar infrastructure project. The state government says the development of Cross River Rail now has a 17-billion-dollar price tag, three times higher than originally expected, but Labor has questioned the maths.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00One mighty cost blowout.
00:04Labor trying to use smoke and mirrors to hide the true state of affairs when it comes to big projects like Cross River Rail.
00:10Or creative accounting.
00:12The Christopher Lee regime has completely cooked the books.
00:16The new LNP government has been digging into the numbers for Brisbane's Cross River Rail,
00:21claiming it's now likely to cost at least $17 billion and may not be ready until 2029.
00:28Now that is a considerable difference to what has been promised by Labor.
00:32Set to run for 10km with new stations, Cross River Rail was expected to start taking passengers in 2026
00:40and cost taxpayers $6.3 billion.
00:43But the transport minister says the price tag's gone well off track,
00:47saying the cost to build and maintain the tunnel alone is expected to exceed $10 billion.
00:53The Christopher Lee regime has decided to include the cost of maintenance for the life of an asset
01:00in the cost to build the asset. It is a world first.
01:04The notion that you would not include maintenance on a major project like this is simply farcical.
01:09He's also accused the previous government of not including another $5 billion of associated works.
01:15Things like stabling yards, signalling so a train can travel through the tunnel,
01:20buses to support passengers when the Cross River Rail and the broader rail network is shut down for that necessary testing.
01:28This boof-haired transport minister.
01:31While insisting he was being open about the state of the books,
01:34Mr Mickleburg also couldn't share a more detailed cost breakdown, saying it could jeopardise contracts.
01:40Why can't he do it as a transport minister?
01:43Once those negotiations are complete, I'm more than happy to share that information.
01:47The government says the tunnel must be independently certified by the National Rail Safety Regulator, which takes two years.
01:54The regulator says it does not undertake testing or commissioning for any major project.
01:59This is the role of the project manager, so the time frame for this process is a matter for them.