Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) has welcomed the announcement of a long-term transport plan for NSW
November 30, 2011
Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) has welcomed the announcement of a long-term transport plan for NSW, which is planned for release next year.
A discussion paper will be released in February and a draft plan released in the middle of next year. The final plan is due for release in November 2012.
The IPA says the announcement shows a commitment by the state’s government to getting infrastructure priorities right.
IPA CEO Brendan Lyon says the process is an opportunity for the government to identify its transport challenges and develop a strategy to solve them “piece by piece over the next 20 years”.
“The transport and infrastructure challenges in NSW are so acute that we need to recapture the long-term vision in Bradfield’s master plan from the 1920s and the Cumberland Plan in the 1950s,” Lyon says.
“These long-term plans provided a logical and thoughtful strategy that survived the political cycle and progressively transformed Sydney.
Lyon hopes a new long-term strategy will protect future transport corridors to make sure land will be available for road and rail projects in the decades ahead.
“NSW has had a lot of transport plans in recent years but shifting political priorities and a lack of public acceptance has meant that NSW has not delivered on these plans,” he says.
“The Government’s announcement of a two-stage process shows that they have listened to business and the public sector about the need to step back from short term considerations and get the long-term planning right.”