Tony Abbott wants to be known as the “infrastructure Prime Minister”, by building shedloads of roads and rail links all over the country. An early leak of some key Budget information in the form of a YouTube video is now out in the wild, and it details the $125 billion investment in Aussie road links. Here’s what’s going to be storming through a town near you in the next four years.
The video was tweeted by Liberal MP Jamie Briggs earlier this evening. Here’s what you’re getting:
The government will fast-track a $2 billion investment in order to build Stage Two of the WestConnex project, on top of an existing $1.5 billion commitment. The timeline of the project will also be brought forward by around 18 months thanks to a new bridging loan for the private sector, with money from the road to pay back the loan over time.
WestConnex will create around 10,000 jobs, with construction set to get underway in 2015 for a 2023 completion date.
The State NSW government and the Federal government will invest $3.5 billion in a new Western Sydney infrastructure plan, which promises to transform the West with new highways and a second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek. This will create 4000 jobs, and start in 2015 with a completion date somewhere around 2019.
The Northconnex M1 motorway will allow travel between Newcastle, the Central Coast, Canberra and Melbourne without hitting traffic lights along the way. It will start building in 2015 and take four years to finish.
Victoria will see an additional $1.5 billion poured into the new East-West Link, that connect the Eastern Freeway with the Western Ring road, and provide a better cross-city solution. It creates 6000 jobs and starts this year with a 2023 completion date.
Adelaide will get new investment in the North-South Road Corridor, creating 850 jobs. It will start building next year and take a decade to finish thanks to the $944 million investment.
To carry freight around Perth better, the Western capital is getting the Perth Road Freight Link, which will see the private sector and the government build a $1.6 billion freight connection to the Fremantle port.
Meanwhile, the Northern Territory road network is about to get safer with a $523 million investment in Tiger Brennan Drive.
There’s also a massive amount of investment in rail infrastructure, as well as money for the new next generation rail monitoring project which will speed up freight rail in Australia.
More as it happens!