Page 4053 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 30 November 2022
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TCCS staff are going out there over the next week or so to check whether those buses meet the specifications before they are then brought into Canberra ready to start service in the new year. Things are progressing. The Liberals hate it. The Liberals hate the fact that we are committed to transitioning our bus fleet to low and zero emissions buses. We are getting on with the job. I am looking forward to making further announcements over the coming days and weeks about those new buses entering service to deliver quieter, cleaner, more comfortable services for Canberrans.
MS LEE: Minister, I ask you to, again, confirm how many of the buses that are supposed to replace the old Renaults are in the ACT today? If the long-awaited promise of delivery by the end of the year does not happen, are there sufficient buses to fulfil the current timetable?
MR STEEL: I refer the member to the answer to the last question. I have said they are in Adelaide. Before they come up here, they are getting the final checks—before they move over to Canberra. The hypothetical that Ms Lee put is out of order.
Light rail stage 2—construction costs
MR PARTON: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. Minister, the Doma Group have signalled major delays and cost blowouts to their Foothills development in Campbell because, since the project was originally announced, building costs have risen by at least 25 per cent, meaning that they are unable to secure finance. Have estimated construction costs for stage 2 of the tram also risen by at least 25 per cent in the last two years and will that result in major delays and cost blowouts, as it has for most other construction projects around the nation?
MR STEEL: There is no doubt that, at the moment, as we deliver major infrastructure projects in the government, civil works and private sectors, there has been cost escalation that has been occurring. Of course, we go through procurement and test the market when we deliver these projects. That is the process that we are in at the moment for a range of different infrastructure projects in the territory. We are of course committed to getting on and delivering those. If the opposition are suggesting that they should be scrapped, then they should announce that policy to the Assembly.
MR PARTON: Minister, has the government identified a threshold cost for stage 2 at which point it is considered unviable? If not, why not?
MR STEEL: We are going through a procurement process at the moment. The government will consider the outcomes of that procurement process.
MS LEE: Will the government blindly proceed with stage 2 of light rail, whatever the cost?
MR STEEL: The government is committed to bring light rail down to Woden, and we are getting on with the job. Construction has already begun, with many of the contracts already signed, including the delivery raising London Circuit, the new five
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