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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 13 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 4107 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

minor improvements as necessary. This is spread across all agencies, with the Canberra Institute of Technology receiving $1.9m.

Mr Speaker, the Territory Departments incurred expenditure on capital works of $66m in 1998-99. This expenditure represents about 75% of the original annual budget for capital works. The unspent component of the budget relates to funding provided for projects that were delayed, many of these for reasons beyond the control of Government.

Mr Speaker, of the $20.9m underspend in the 1998-99 program, $9.4m relates to funding provided by way of grants. Of these, grants approved for ACT Rugby League and ACT Rugby Union were both withheld, due to ongoing negotiations between grant recipients regarding the extent of proposed works and use of facilities. Payment of these grants will be made once these organisations have finalised such arrangements.

In addition Mr Speaker, the underspend also included a $3.5m grant for the upgrade of Football Park and Manuka Oval. This funding was not utilised in 1998-99 due to discussions involving ACT Cricket and the ACTAFL. It has since been agreed by the Government and these parties, that works will proceed at Manuka Oval only, to bring it up to a standard fit for first class games in both sports. This particular project will be undertaken in the current financial year.

Mr Speaker, it is important to remember that unforseen delays, such as those I have just identified, do arise in the course of the capital works program. These in general could relate to market conditions, planning constraints, and complaints from the community during the forward design phase.

In fact, in certain circumstances, it would be prudent not to proceed with the project, and resolve some of the outstanding issues.

To reduce the impact of such delays, the Government is developing a framework to respond to such delays through a range of measures, which will assist in maintaining the overall program expenditure.

Mr Speaker, the framework focuses on:

� minimising the risks of delays in project delivery;

� identifying potential delays as they emerge during the year; and

� undertaking remedial action in either addressing the causes of delay, or accelerating other projects, or reprioritisation of the program.

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