Project team analyses $4b

A State Government taskforce analysing $3.9 billion of its projects has been met with keen interest by private enterprise.

Projects within the taskforce’s sight are at various stages of completion, with some not even formally announced.

Private enterprise has frequently been vocal about the lengthy time delays, approvals processes and layers of bureaucracy encountered in order to instigate major projects and, while welcoming the taskforce, questioned its ability to enforce change.

The taskforce’s aims are to identify major Government projects that are a priority during the next four years; establish key project milestones; find ways of removing obstacles that can arise with some projects; ensure proposals remain within budget and timeframes; and identify capital works priorities in regional WA.

The Cabinet Taskforce is chaired by Housing and Works Minister Fran Logan and also comprises Treasurer Eric Ripper, Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan and Small Business and Justice Minister John D’Orazio.

Premier Geoff Gallop said the government’s investment in infrastructure during the climate of skills shortages and cost pressures presented challenges that warranted the highest level of scrutiny by State Cabinet.

Some of the projects are anticipated to be delivered as Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) through a policy originally announced in 2002, which remained unused until the announcement last year that the $195 million CBD courts project would be a PPP.

Freehills senior associate Toby Browne-Cooper said many major infrastructure projects had been delivered by PPPs both interstate and overseas and there was scope for several of the new projects within the taskforce’s oversight to make use of PPP structures.

“Some projects are already being delivered using Government funding with no private finance element, such as New MetroRail and the road expansions; others are in the process of being procured via PPPs, such as the CBD Courts Project and the Multipurpose Stadium,” Mr Browne-Cooper said.

“The private sector will certainly be very interested in the proposed procurement timeframe and process of the projects that have not yet been formally launched, such as the Old Treasury Buildings Redevelopment and the new Fiona Stanley Hospital.”

Mr Browne-Cooper said he was pleased to see projects that were announced in the pre-election period being followed through but said appropriate timing of new projects was crucial to ensure there was capacity in the local, national and international market to submit competitive bids.

BankWest property finance chief manager Troy Leiba believed the taskforce was a step forward.

“BankWest, through our parent company HBOS, one of the larger financiers of PPPs in Britain, are strong advocates of the PPP system and we look forward to some of the projects listed by government being PPPs,” Mr Leiba said.

He said that although the PPP policy was announced in 2002, it seemed to not be strongly embraced by government.

“From a legal and financing point of view, the PPP idea has been well received, with a lot of east coast financiers embracing the idea,” Mr Leiba said.

He said with the increased construction risk associated with cost blow-outs, private enterprise could have an increasing role and be seen as more efficient at managing risk.