EXCLUSIVE ANDREW CLENNELL STATE POLITICAL EDITOR. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
NSW PREMIER Mike Baird admits ripping up George Street to build the light rail project will cause “inconvenience”.
However, he says his government is studying mistakes made in similar projects in Edinburgh and Boston to keep the disruption to a minimum.
Significantly, the government has delayed the start of the project to the month after the state election in April next year.
“The expectation is that there will be inconvenience,” Mr Baird conceded. “But there’s also a lot of lessons you can learn from other projects around the world.
“A big part of that preparation which I’ve asked for, particularly in Edinburgh and Boston, is what are the lessons, the things that went wrong, and what do we learn from them?”
According to overseas reports, Edinburgh’s light rail project blew out by 40 per cent, or $1.2 billion. It has been delayed for three years, and the track was shortened because of the massive cost overruns. Edinburgh businesses have reported that their earnings fell dramatically throughout the construction phase.
The premier’s comments come after one of the three consortia bidding for the project pulled out this month amid reports that its British construction firm, Balfour Beatty, had withdrawn because of concerns about cost overruns from moving utilities under George Street.
The Baird government claimed the withdrawal was because the company was reviewing operations worldwide.
Fears over possible congestion caused by the project bring back memories of the Cross City Tunnel fiasco under the previous Labor government, when streets were shut to funnel traffic through the tunnel.
In the end, after a shellacking from the media and public, the government was forced to re-open the roads.
“It will be a challenge for Sydney,” Mr Baird said.
“There will be the inconvenience, but we are looking to minimise that and take the long-term view.”
The government has put a finish date of 2019 or 2020 on the project, which it hopes to build with the private sector at a cost of $1.6 billion.
The project will link Circular Quay and Central, then move up through Surry Hills and Moore Park to Kingsford and Randwick.
Opposition transport spokeswoman Penny Sharpe said Labor had concerns about the project but would not oppose it.
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