THE Federal Government has announced a significant injection of further funds into the Murray Basin Rail project.<\/p>\n
Just over $195 million for the continuation of the project in north-west Victoria was committed by the Commonwealth Government mid-last week.<\/p>\n
Member for Ripon Louise Staley said although the new money is welcome, it won\u2019t be enough to finish the job and attacked the State\u2019s handling of infrastructure upgrade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was meant to be a 50\/50 project between the State and Federal Government, but Jacinta Allan fouled up how she built this project so comprehensively that the Federal Government\u2019s funding will only fix her errors,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s problems all way along this project\u2026 eventually the [State] Government ran out of money\u2026 today the [Federal] Government stepped back in with a significant investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still won\u2019t get the full project which we need to get the benefits from this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additionally, to the almost $200 million, the Commonwealth is also set to supply $5 million to further plan for the standardisation of the Sea Lake and Manangatang lines.<\/p>\n
Ms Staley said it\u2019s imperative that the State Government matches this investment to ensure the adequate continuation of the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be additional funding required, the Federal Government has said they want to have that planned for properly because getting the full project done is vital,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Victorian Government need to go further and step up with a further $200 million of their own to make sure lines like the Sea Lake and Manangatang are standardised but also the Ballarat to Maryborough lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe original $440 million that was meant to cover the entire project, now won\u2019t deliver half of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After receiving news of the Murray Basin Rail project funding boost, Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said she was pleased the Federal Government was committed to resetting the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe submitted the revised business case to the Federal Government on this project in May,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis project needed to be reset and reset in a way that continued to see improvements in the rail freight network in the north and west of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve already seen some improvements made in travel times and improvements in availability of freight paths, there is more to be done in this network and that is what this next package of works will do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to challenges with the Murray Basin project, Ms Allan said they were due to it being an out-of-date business case and not reflecting what the rail, passenger or freight network looks like now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been problems with the original scope of this program, this project was born in a business case that\u2019s nearly nine years old and there were significant deficiencies with that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had to make modifications along the way\u2026 we undertook a big reset of the project, we revised the original business case, we looked at what we could learn from the delivery of the early stages of the project and applied that to the business case.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the continuation of the project, Ms Allan said she was unable to confirm the State Government\u2019s funding intentions at this stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of the scope of works that\u2019s been outlined in the revised business case, the Victorian Government had additional funding in its recent State budget,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had been waiting for the Federal Government to advise us of their contribution to provide for these packages of works.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, I\u2019m not in a position today to indicate whether the Victorian Government will match that funding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Federal Government has announced a significant injection of further funds into the Murray Basin Rail project. Just over $195 million for the continuation of the project in north-west Victoria was committed by the Commonwealth Government mid-last week. Member for Ripon Louise Staley said although the new money is welcome, it won\u2019t be enough to […]<\/p>\n