Infrastructure Australia shortlist

Last week Infrastructure Australia released a report to COAG.  The report waffles for four chapters on their decision making methodology and satisfies other governance requirements with odd descriptions like transparency, probity and fairness.

Then it gets to the good stuff.

The report contains a list of 'projects for further analysis'.  This isn't the final National Priority List commissioned by Government - that's due out in first quarter 2009.  It's the shortlist of projects that have merit.  Looking at the list I immediately noticed a couple of points - first, after receiving hundreds of submissions from industry groups, private companies and private individuals very few, if any seem to have made the list with the vast majority of projects being state government submissions.
 
Of the 94 projects on the list, 80 of them were submitted by state governments.  That's 85% of the short list.  Of the 14 remaining projects, four come from Brisbane City Council, three from other councils, four from the Australian Rail Track Corporation (a federal government owned company), one from the federal Department of Infrastructure one from Darwin Airport and one from Worley Parsons (a multinational resource and energy company.)

This clearly shows Infrastructure Australia's commitment to build infrastructure for the community - focusing on tiers of government to roll out services rather than private projects.

The shortlisted NSW projects are:

• Northern Sydney freight Rail Corridor
• Sydney CBD Metro
• Sydney West Metro
• F3-M2 Link
• M4 Extension
• M5 Expansion
• F3 to Branxton Link
• Pacific Highway upgrades
• Princes Highway upgrades
• Regional Water Reform initiatives
• Aboriginal Community Water Supply and Sewerage Program

Sydney does well with six of the 11 projects.  All of these projects were spelled out in the November mini-budget as being submitted to IA for consideration.

It being suggested that the Feds advised Rees not to submit the North West Metro for consideration, he's done well to have gotten the two current metro projects through the first hurdle.  If NSW receives the $8.1b for the West metro and the $4.8b for the CBD Metro he will be well on the way to announcing the extension of the CBD Metro to Macquarie Park, effectively delivering stage 1 of the North West Metro.

IA have made it clear that the spending of the Building Australia Fund is a decades-long process but the first projects off the rank will have all the advantages to see them through to the end.

Barangaroo Delivery Authority board announced

The NSW Planning Minister has announced the board of the newly formed Barangaroo Delivery Authority.

In November 2008 Planning Minister, Kristina Keneally, announced that the design and construction of the Barangaroo site would be managed by a new dedicated agency called the Barangaroo Delivery Authority.  Up until now it had been managed by the Sydney harbour Foreshore Authority.  It seems that since the Planning Department was reclaiming the SHFA powers for approving foreshore development proposals they may as well take Barangaroo too.  While Keneally says the SHFA "has done a very good job on the initial planning phase" I wonder why she feels she needs to take the project off their hands.

Five days ago Ms Keneally announced the names of the board members for the BDA.  The board will be chaired by Michael Collins, who is also Chairman of the SHFA.  This provides a strong continuity between the phases of the project and ensures a smooth handover from the SHFA to the BDA.  The other key strategic member of the five-person board is Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, ensuring a strong connection between Barangaroo's development and its integration with the current and future plans for the CBD.

The other three board members are Peter Holmes a Court, Chairman of White Bull Holdings, Brendan Crotty, Chairman of the Western Sydney Parklands Trust and Gabrielle Trainor, Partner, John Connolly and Partners and SHFA board member.

The other significant announcement coming out of Keneally's news release is that Darling Harbour Wharf 8 Cruise Terminal is being permanently relocated.  It will be temporarily located at White Bay for a minimum of five years before a new permanent site is identified.

White Bay is currently part of the working harbour and hosts ships for various purposes including vegetable oil imports, servicing ferries and special events such as the Greenpeace vessel Esperanza open day in June 2008.  While the operations in and around White Bay are slowly winding down, the NSW Government has been quick to make use of the land before it could be snatched away by developers.  The White Bay precinct will now be used as a new cruise ship terminal, while the adjacent Glebe Island will be used as a construction site for the CBD Metro line, currently under development and awaiting funding.  Residential developers and even the Sydney Fish Markets, who are hoping to relocate to Glebe Island, will just have to wait.
 

NSW Infrastructure Budget reviewed

Last week the NSW Treasurer released the NSW 2008-09 Half-yearly Budget Review.  The half-yearly review is released each year around mid December to revise budget figures based on actual expenditure and financial indicators over the first half of the financial year.

This year the review is particularly interesting because it takes into account the November Mini-Budget and updates the 2007-08 State Infrastructure Strategy (SIS) to incorporate the large changes to the capital works program outlined in the Mini-Budget.

It also incorporates some major financial changes that have occurred since the Mini-Budget.  Specifically:

• The Commonwealth government's decision to front-end a large portion of NSW funding at the COAG meeting in late November in which $477m of the Commonwealth funding earmarked for 2009-10 to 2011-12 will be handed out this financial year.

• $500m of debt in the housing and rail sectors will be paid off this year instead of spreading the payments across the next four years.

• The further deterioration of the world financial markets.

The effect of these changes is to reduce this year's estimated deficit from $917m to $712m.  It also reduces the estimated 2011-12 surplus from $900m to $813m.  In NSW's current financial situation any decision that reduces short-term deficits by eroding longer-term surpluses is the responsible thing to do, especially when the money is used to reduce debt.

The review also updates the SIS based on major changes announced in November.

On the transport side, they will save $7 billion by converting the North West metro project into the CBD Metro.  Savings from the deferment of the South West Rail Link will be absorbed by additional outer suburban train cars and increased Clearways costs.

On the electricity side, they will save an additional $1 billion by selling off their electricity retail businesses but due to their failure to successfully sell off the electricity generation businesses they have earmarked an additional $4 billion in baseload power generation investment.

These changes represent a $4 billion overall saving in the SIS, adjusting the total 10-year expenditure estimates to $139b down from $143b.

The Government has insulated itself as well as it can by back-loading the $4b in electricity investment into the latter six years of the 10-year SIS.  They are hoping not to use this money if they can avoid it.  In summarising the State's electricity expenditure, the review states,

"$3.4 billion...to invest in base load generation in the event the private sector fails to commit to developing adequate capacity."

Obviously if they can get the power generation assets sold off by 2012 the $4b comes back to them for reinvestment along with the $15b in proceeds from the sale, investment that will probably go straight back into the transport capital works program to complete the North West and Western Metros (as implied by the dotted ends of the CBD Metro.)

The most likely scenario is that they'll lose the 2011 election and the Liberals will sell off the power generation businesses, build the metros and slam the Labor opposition for not caring enough about North-West Sydney.

The half-yearly budget review can be found here.

Sydney councils win planning awards

Last month the Planning Institute of Australia (NSW) held its Awards for Excellence in Planning evening where a number of Sydney councils received awards and commendations for various urban planning projects.

Randwick City Council received a commendation in the Environmental Planning category for their Design Ideas for Rejuvenating Residential Flat Buildings.  They also received a commendation in the Social & Community-Based Planning category for their Affordable Housing Strategy & Rental Housing Programme.

Waverly Council also received a commendation for in the Social & Community-Based Planning category for their Waverly Affordable Housing Program.

In the Urban Planning Achievement category City of Sydney received an award for their Sustainable Sydney 2030 vision as well as a commendation for their Late Night Trading Premises DCP 2007.

Willoughby City Council received a commendation in the same category for their Chatswood Civic Place vision.

Tenders for a sustainable Sydney

Today the City of Sydney called for expressions of interest for two projects to help with their goal of reducing council greenhouse emissions.

The first is a project to convert all street lighting to LEDs that consume far less power than other forms of lighting.

The second project will develop plans for Alternate Waste Technologies, specifically a methane gas extraction system that will allow the city's waste to contribute resources to the city's new, gas-powered green transformers.

These initiatives are part of Lord Mayor Clover Moore's Sustainable Sydney 2030 city vision.  Since her re-election earlier this year she promised this term would be a term of action.  it looks like she's putting those words into practice.  While the city council is already carbon neutral, these initiatives will help achieve city emission targets set out in the 2030 vision.


 

Metro or not metro?

Given the fact that it doesn't actually exist, Sydney's extensive metro rail network is getting a lot of news coverage.

Yesterday the Sydney Morning Herald revealed that a report from metro rail experts commissioned by the NSW Government supports the building of the CBD Metro, the North West Metro and the Western Metro.

The report goes on to say that if NSW can put up the $4.8 billion for the CBD metro and the Federal Government's Infrastructure Australia puts up another $4 billion the entire $20 billion, three-line metro network can be built with the remaining money coming from the private sector.

The Herald also revealed that the report was finished well before the November mini-budget, that saw the indefinite deferment of the North West Metro, but was not delivered to Government until after the mini-budget was announced due to delays in the Premier's office.

Infrastructure Australia is the Federal Government agency set up to decide which infrastructure projects should be funded from the $20 billion Building Australia Fund. The Federal Government expects Infrastructure Australia will be able to hand down an interim priority list of projects in the next few weeks.

Walk Score

Here's a nifty little tool called Walkscore what lets you calculate your neigbourhood's walkability.  It calculates it based on your distance from cafes, schools, parks, supermarkets etc based on local listings.

My home's walkscore is 69 out of 100 - Somewhat Walkable.  Can you beat it?

Free city loop bus

The long sought after free city loop has finally arrived.  Not in the form of free rail trips on the city circle or a light rail loop but in the form of the CBD shuttle - eight green buses that will run every ten minutes in both directions around a loop that runs along George and Elizabeth streets from Circular Quay to Central Station.

The shuttle, designated route 555, will run every day of the year (except Christmas) from 9.30am to 3.30pm weekdays and 9.30am to 6pm weekends and public holidays.  Interestingly, it will also run right through the afternoon peak on Thursdays up until 9pm.

The shuttle is targeted at city workers, tourists and shoppers.  Sydney is one of the last major cities in Australia to get a free city loop, something locals and businesses have been demanding for decades.


Sydney Lord Mayor welcomes the initiative but says it is inferior to her plans to build a light rail loop along a similar route claiming light rail would be cleaner and more efficient due to existing congestion along George and Elizabeth.  I wonder how she can make this claim since light rail also competes for space with road traffic.  Perhaps she feels her planned light rail loop along Sussex Street and Hickson Road will have less traffic impact.  Either way, I think six additional off-peak buses on the road won't hurt the city too much.


It will definitely reduce short car and taxi trips into and around the CBD but whether that will actually reduce the amount of taxis in the CBD is unclear.  It has also been suggested that the southbound trips may become overcrowded with people planning to ride the shuttle from Circular Quay to Central then change buses to save a couple of sections worth of bus fare.


Overall, this is a good service for the CBD for the relatively low price tag of $1.3m.  It achieves the basic principle of getting bums on public transport seats.  It also contributes to one of my three key transport improvements, which are:


1. Mass transit to public transport voids (e.g. North-West Sydney and the Northern Beaches)


2. More non-radial connections (not every train line needs to run to the CBD.  We need mass transit connecting Parramatta, Liverpool, Penrith and Campbelltown)


3. Clear the CBD (this means more public transport and fewer cars in the CBD)


A free city bus loop is a big help to getting the CBD untangled and liveable.

City of Sydney moves ahead with cycleways

The City of Sydney has moved into the implementation phase of its plan to build 55km of separated cycleways across the council area and eventually link to a 200km cycle network across fifteen city councils.


Yesterday the City of Sydney announced it would be moving ahead with five major separated cycleway projects as well as the construction of 35km of separated cycleways on local streets and a study into a city-wide bicycle hire service.


The five major new cycleway projects are:


King Street, Sydney


A dedicated cycleway on King St between Sussex and Kent is currently under construction in the CBD.  This will form an East-West connection between the Pyrmont Bridge and Clarence Street, which is planned to become the major North-South cycle route through the CBD.  The bottom end of the Clarence Street cycleway will connect with Druitt and continue East along Park.


Bourke Street


The Bourke Street cycleway is the main north-south cycleway connecting William Street, Darlinghurst to the new major centre to be developed at Green Square.  Plans for comment on this development will be made available on the City of Sydney website tomorrow.


Missenden Road

A separated cycleway will be built along the Eastern side of Missenden from Parramatta Road to King St, Newtown.  The Southern end will connect with existing cycle paths on Bucknell and Wilson Streets while the Northern end is planned to connect to future cycleways along Pyrmont Bridge Road and on to Glebe.  Construction on this cycleway is expected to commence in mid 2009.  The proposed plan is currently online here and the public have been invited to discuss the route with planners at the Ridges Hotel, 9 Missenden Road, Camperdown at 6.30pm on Wednesday 10 December.


College Street, Sydney


The footpath along College Street alongside the park will be widened to allow a pedestrians and cyclists access to a new shared path along the route.  The widening of the footpath will absorb the parking lane along the western side of College Street.  Plans can be viewed here and comments will be sought when the development application goes to the Planning Department.


Union Street, Pyrmont


This cycleway will connect to the Anzac Bridge via Miller Street in the West and with the Pyrmont Bridge in the East and connect with the King Street CBD route.  This plan is currently on exhibition and submission for comment close tomorrow.  The plans can be viewed here.