Light rail cost not inflated: Corbell
Updated
A government commissioned report shows the estimate is about double what the cost of light rail is in other countries, and quoted the $350 million spent on a project in Oregon.
ACT Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell says the the Portland project was developed more than ten years ago when building costs were lower.
"I'd like to reject the assertions made by the Australasian Railway Association that suggested that the Portland rail project that was developed in 1999, was developed at a cost of only $350 million," Mr Corbell said.
"Over a decade of time has elapsed since that point, obviously prices have significantly increased since that point.
"That can be seen in the latest Portland light rail project which for 11km is costed at $1.5 billion US to develop, with that scheduled to start in the next one to two years."
Mr Corbell says the early costing estimates for the Gungahlin-Civic route are prudent and conservative.
"The project cost estimates were developed by URS Australia, a respected international engineering consultancy with experience in large scale projects," he said.
"The light rail costs have been benchmarked against a range of similar projects such as the Constitution Avenue upgrade, the Gold Coast light rail project and the Melbourne Hoddle Street planning study.
"There's also been reference made to work from the Australian construction handbook and also costing methodologies developed by the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, and Regional Development when it comes to best practice cost estimates for publicly funded road and rail projects."
Mr Corbell says costings are continually developed over time.
"We're at the early stage of this project, as a result the cost estimates - as the Government has always said - are estimates, subject to change as further investigations take place," he said.
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