Page 1857 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 8 June 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
legislative and policy frameworks of the government. In accordance with the requirements of the Government Procurement Act, the public text of the capital metro project agreement, as a notifiable contract under the act, will be published. It will be published because that is the law, a law made by this place, a law made by this government. To be clear, the public text of the project agreement does exclude any material that is determined under the act to be confidential, and, appropriately, this includes matters such as personal and commercial-in-confidence information. This is no different from any other contract or any other procurement undertaken by the ACT government. The same rules apply to the capital metro contract as apply to any other contract that the ACT government enters into.
Under the ACT government’s partnership framework, it is also an obligation for a contract summary to be produced. Clearly, there is significant public interest in this project, so the government has determined that not only will we publish the project agreement, the contract, as is required by law, but also we will publish a contract summary. We realise that there is keen interest in the project, and we want Canberrans to be informed and able to interpret the information presented.
These two documents, therefore, will give Canberrans the information they seek about the project and the contractual obligations placed on the Canberra Metro consortium. There is already an extensive amount of information in the public domain about the project—I would venture to say more than for any other infrastructure project ever undertaken in this city. These documents that I have outlined now will add further to the government’s commitment and demonstrate our capacity to achieve value for money outcomes for this community in such a major infrastructure project.
I want to turn to the claims made by the opposition in relation to the cost of the project. The project’s net present cost figure is $939 million. That includes the present value of the 20-year availability payments and the contribution the territory will make to the project once services commence, as well as a prudent contingency amount. It is not the $1.65 million Mr Coe claimed in the motion he tabled yesterday, although I note that he has corrected that. He seems to have a problem with his millions and his billions, Madam Assistant Speaker. Nevertheless, it is neither of the figures that Mr Coe claims.
In October 2014, the government publicly released the business case for the project. At the time, the project costs were estimated at $783 million, including government contingency. With the contract signed on 17 May this year, the capital cost was confirmed at $707 million, again including a government contingency. This is an outstanding outcome for our city. It demonstrates the competitive nature of the bidding process and the value that the international consortia placed on the opportunity to deliver this project for our city.
This investment will not only see the delivery of a light rail system; it will also deliver other city enhancements such as an upgraded Alinga Street terminal and the redevelopment of the Civic plaza, as well as the provision of dynamic LED lighting at light rail stops.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video