[U/C] Sealing the Strzelecki Track

[rhino]

From ABC News online:

Push to seal Strzelecki Track

Mr Weatherill went to outback Quorn on Monday and pledged $90 million, if Labor wins re-election on March 17, toward a $450 million project to seal the Strzelecki Track, ensuring bitumen from northern South Australia through to Queensland.

The State Government had already made the project a priority for federal funding in submissions to Infrastructure Australia, but until now there had been no firm pledge of government money.
The Premier said a sealed Strzelecki Track was of great importance for state growth.

"It will open cattle coming down the track to be processed in South Australian facilities," he said.


"It will open up tourism routes. It will also provide massive opportunities for the oil and gas sector to be serviced from SA, creating jobs and opportunities in SA rather than having to take the much longer trip from Brisbane."

Mr Weatherill said federal money would be vital to an upgrading.

"This is a national endeavour. We're asking for the Commonwealth to provide the balance of the funding, perhaps even with a contribution from the private sector," he said.

Local MP Dan van Holst Pellekaan promised to match the commitment if the Liberal Party win government

"If it's in their budget and the state Liberals are elected, it will be in our budget," he said.

"This is something I've actually advocated for over many years with a succession of state government transport ministers.

"It's incredibly important for the resources industry, for tourism, for local people, for the cattle industry."

A Government report calculated sealing the outback road could contribute up to $1.4 billion to the South Australian economy over the next four decades.

[[Shuz]]

"If it's in their budget and the state Liberals are elected, it will be in our budget," he said.

This is insanely concerning. They're running a me-too campaign.

[Waewick]

"If it's in their budget and the state Liberals are elected, it will be in our budget," he said.

This is insanely concerning. They're running a me-too campaign.

how is it insanely concerning? if it is the state budget the opposition has pledged to leave it there.

hardly ground breaking stuff if both parties see the benefit.

[JAKJ]

Needs to happen, the track is in utterly atrocious condition for a major transport corridor and make the birdsville track look like freshly paved tarmac.

[SBD]

It looks like what is new is:

• Weatherill is prepared to pay for (some of) it
• It's about cattle and tourism not mining, oil and gas

I'm not sure which side is doing "me too", if Pellekaan has been agitating for it for years as he claims. Weatherill is just announcing it first to steal Liberal thunder. I found the following, which dates from just after the last election:


South Australian government to ask business to seal Strzelecki Track from Lyndhurst to Innamincka
DANIEL WILLS STATE POLITICAL EDITOR, The Advertiser
July 31, 2014 10:55pm

SOUTH Australia has opened the door to using private sector cash as a funding source for new road projects as the Federal Government steps up its push for the state to adopt tolls.

The Advertiser can reveal the State Government will consider asking business to directly contribute funds to sealing of the Strzelecki Track, which connects Lyndhurst to Innamincka, in a project seen as critical to unlocking new activity in the Cooper Basin resource sector.

The project would seal 450km of road at an estimated cost of $450 million and allow all-weather access to a region that is highly-prospective for new oil and gas projects.

The State Government in February confirmed it had submitted a Strzelecki Track business plan to Infrastructure Australia, a top-level Federal Government advisory body.

SA is also developing plans for the Northern Connector, which would link the Port River and Northern expressways.

However, Federal Assistant Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Jamie Briggs has warned both projects will struggle to get off the ground without tolls and has written to the State Government offering support from his department to develop “private sector financing options”.

Mr Briggs on Thursday told The Advertiser there was “no golden goose in Canberra who is just going to keep doling out billions of dollars worth of infrastructure investment”.

“We have to find new ways to get more done,” he said. “If you look in the Budget, every mainland state other than South Australia had a project with the private sector involved.

“If they (the SA Government) are just expecting large lumps of Federal Government money in the future to do what they say is a priority, they’re kidding themselves.”

SA Transport and Infrastructure Minister Stephen Mullighan yesterday insisted the state did not have enough traffic to justify toll roads but would consider ways to access private funds.

“I’ve made it clear ... that this Government does not support tolls, in particular on the Northern Connector,” he said. “We don’t have sufficient traffic volumes to make them stack up.

“However, given the reliance of Cooper Basin operators on the Strzelecki Track, there may well be an opportunity for the private sector to contribute directly to the cost of any upgrade.

“I look forward to discussing this with Assistant Minister Briggs.”

The State Government’s 30-year transport and Holden jobs plan identify the Strzelecki Track upgrade as a priority project to “support the expected increase in mining extraction and further commercialisation of oil and gas resources over the next two decades in this region”.

SA Chamber of Mines and Energy chief executive Jason Kuchel said sealing the Strzelecki track would promote new exploration in the Cooper Basin and boost the state’s service sector.

“At the moment, getting goods into the Cooper Basin and getting oil out is entirely weather dependent,” he said. “That’s the sort of thing that people look at as to whether they’re going to spend money exploring and bother to come there in the first place.

“At the present time, there is better access from Queensland, so the reality is that ... there are a lot of companies who would prefer to service their operations out of Queensland.”

Leading industry groups the Australian Logistics and SA Freight councils last week said they would be willing to pay a truck-only toll on new roads that boosted business productivity.

Sixty-six per cent of more than 400 respondents to The Advertiser’s Northern Fightback survey said delivering the Northern Connector project was critical to economic growth in the area.

[rhino]

It looks like what is new is:

• Weatherill is prepared to pay for (some of) it
• It's about cattle and tourism not mining, oil and gas

" ... It will also provide massive opportunities for the oil and gas sector to be serviced from SA, creating jobs and opportunities in SA rather than having to take the much longer trip from Brisbane."

[how good is he]

Gina Rinehart (& the Chinese) with the Kidman cattle stations would greatly benefit if done. In the wet season the big road trains can’t use the track and cattle is sent south to holding yards to make an even longer haul to get to export.

[Furyan]

The first 50km of the 472km Strzelecki Track has now been sealed. The State Government contributed $10m for its share.
Stage 2 will start next month with a further $64m from the State.

With the eventual completion of this project, a heavy vehicle journey along this section will reduce on average from just over 14 hrs down to just under 6 hrs (including rest breaks).