Page 55 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 10 February 2015
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prepared to explore this route extension as part of stage 1 because they know it means potentially more people coming into the city centre, being able to use the city centre for retail and commercial purposes, particularly, say, during the lunch break for public servants but, indeed, throughout the day.
Connecting the significant workforce at Russell through to the city centre, we know, will significantly increase patronage further on the proposed capital metro project—about a 30 per cent increase from that route extension. So we will be including that as an option in the request for proposal stage. We will be asking short-listed consortia to bid on that.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, can you outline the benefits to Canberrans of this project?
MR CORBELL: I thank Ms Porter for the supplementary. This is a big project for our city. We know it delivers over a billion dollars of economic benefits across the ACT economy. We know it creates nearly 3½ thousand jobs during its construction stage. We know that during its operational stage it has the potential to support jobs growth of around 50,000 extra jobs over the period of the business case analysis. So this is a project that delivers real economic benefits for our city. But, most importantly of all, it is a project which is the right thing to do for our city. It is a long-term infrastructure investment project that allows for a renewal of housing stock, that creates more places for people to live, close to where they work, close to where there are good facilities and services, and so that they are able to move around without being wholly dependent on the car. We also know that light rail has the potential to shift people from car use to public transit use in a way that buses have never been able to achieve.
That is the contrast between those on that side and this government. We have a long-term view and a long-term perspective about the growth and development of our city. We recognise that a project that invests in jobs and in economic benefit across the economy, and helps to reshape the growth and pattern of development of our city, is the right decision for our city, and we will continue to argue that case between now and polling day.
Territory and Municipal Services—mowing
MRS JONES: My question is to the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services. Minister, how often are mowing contractors other than the successful tenderer in this case—Citywide—being called upon to complete the mowing of arterial roads? What is the hourly rate paid for this work?
MR RATTENBURY: I will take that question on notice and provide an answer to the Assembly.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mrs Jones.
MRS JONES: Are ACT contractors amongst those called upon to do this extra mowing work?
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