Infrastructure Australia Submission - M4 Extension Project (Stages 1 and 2) documents released

NSW 2008 Submission to Infrastructure Australia - M4 Extension Project

Background
On Wednesday, 9 June 2010 Greens MP and transport spokesperson Lee Rhiannon won Upper House support for the following motion:

Ms Rhiannon moved, according to notice, as by leave amended: That, under standing order 52, there be laid upon the table of the House within 21 days of the date of passing of this resolution all submissions for funding from the Building Australia Fund, made by the government to Infrastructure Australia in 2008 and 2009 in the possession, custody or control of the Premier or the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and any document which records or refers to the production of documents as a result of this order of the House.

The motion sought to force the release of all previously secret submissions by the NSW Government for federal government Infrastructure Australia funding. The submissions were due to be available for public scrutiny on 30 June 2010.

The government failed to fully comply with the motion and instead produced one box of blacked out documents and another privileged box that could be only seen by MPs. The documents were not permitted to be removed from the viewing room and MPs were not allowed to make copies, though they could take notes. The Department of Premier and Cabinet provided a letter outlining the reasons for why documents were deemed privileged.

Heavily redacted versions of the documents were made available to the public, once again, only in hardcopy form. Following the release, media reports appeared summarising the contents.

The redacted nature of the documents means that critical information has been withheld from the public. For example, there are no indicative or detailed maps showing the location of entry and exit portals, the intended route of the tunnels or the number and location of emission stacks.

Nor has material been included on how this expensive project is to be funded. We note that p.4 of Further Inputs for Initiative Selection ends with the section heading PPP Financial Model. Unfortunately, pp. 5-7 which presumably summarised this model have been redacted.

In the sections Complexity (Delivery) and Affordability (ownership structure, funding sources), on p. 3, it is suggested that both stages could be delivered as a PPP (Private Public Partnership), with a substantial government contribution. It provides examples of projects with similar technical, procurement and construction challenges:

• Eastern distribtor;
• Cross City Tunnel;
• Lane Cove Tunnel

It is noted that Stage One of the project would be in financial terms, the largest road transport ever constructed in Australia and would be of a similar scale to the Brisbane AirportLink project.

EcoTransit Sydney has scanned in the available documents relating to the M4 Extension Project (Staged Project), dated 29 October 2008, that was submitted to Infrastructure Australia. The following documents are available:

IA Submission Cover Sheet

The Infrastucture Australia Cover Sheet, dated 29 October 2008, listing the documents included in the submission for the M4 Extension Project (Staged Project).

Of the documents listed in the Cover Sheet, only redacted versions of Document 1, Document 2, Document 3 and Document 4 were released to the public.

Document 1 - Summary of Initiative Profiling Stage 1

This document provides an overview of the M4 Extension Project Stage 1 (Parramatta Road to the City West Link and Parramatta Road near Broadway). Stage 1 compromises the following:

• widening of the existing M4 Motorway from west of Church Street at Merrylands to Concord Road at North Strathfield from three to generally four lanes each way; and
• construction of two uni-directional three lane capacity motorway tunnels (approximately 8.5km in length) from North Strathfield to Parramatta Road at Broadway. Ramp connections would be provided from the motorway tunnels to:
  • Parramatta Road, Haberfield (bus only);
  • City West Link at Rozelle to provide access to the ANZAC Bridge; and
  • Parramatta Road at Glebe and Broadway and Abercrombie Street at Chippendale.

Document 2 - Summary of Initiative Profiling Stage 2

This document provides an overview of the M4 Extension Project Stage 2 (Drummoyne to Sydney Airport/Port Botany). Stage 2 compromises the following:

• construction of two uni-directional three lane capacity motorway tunnels (approximately 3km in length) from Parramatta Road in Camperdown to just south of Campbell Road at St Peters;
• one or more road transport links would be constructed from just south of Campbell Road, St Peters to the arterial road network around Sydney Airport; and
• construction of two uni-directional two lane capacity northern motorway tunnels (approximately 4km in length) connecting Victoria Road near the Gladesville Bridge to the main M4 Motorway tunnel in the Leichhardt Area.

Document 3 - Summary of Initiative Appraisal

This document contains a heavily redacted analysis of the M4 Extension project. The total project (ie, with Stage 1 and Stage 2 being completed as a single project) has a capital cost (in 2008 dollars) of $9.1 billion. Alternately, if the project is implemented in stages, then:

• Stage 1, which provides a link to the Sydney CBD (to Anzac Bridge/City West Link and Parramatta Road near Broadway) is estimated to cost $5.7 billion.
• Stage 2 would cost $4.0 billion comprising the link to the Airport/Port Botany south of Parramatta Road and the link north of the City West Link to Gladesville Bridge.

Document 4 - Further Inputs for Initiative Selection

A heavily redacted document providing justification for the project to Infrastructure Australia.

See our collection of documents on the M4 East (includes stuff you were not supposed to see!)