The State Government’s capital works program in the current financial year has risen to a record $3.9 billion, with social infrastructure accounting for most of the spending.
The State Government’s capital works program in the current financial year has risen to a record $3.9 billion, with social infrastructure accounting for most of the spending.
The State Government’s capital works program in the current financial year has risen to a record $3.9 billion, with social infrastructure accounting for most of the spending.
Big-ticket items like hospitals, schools and state housing always take a large chunk of state government spending.
Public transport, in particular construction of the Mandurah rail link, also accounts for a large portion of the state’s capital works budget.
The Government is spending more than $400 million on the electricity system, with around two thirds of this being spent on upgrading Western Power’s transmission network.
The budget for road construction and maintenance is $376 million, with the major items being the extension of the Tonkin Highway, Roe Highway and Mitchell Freeway, and construction of Geraldton’s southern transport corridor.
A third big category is capital spending on water, wastewater and drainage services, which totals about $350 million.
Much of the spending in areas such as roads and energy benefits both industry and the general public. Only a small portion of infrastructure spending has a precise industry focus.
For instance, the water budget includes a desalination plant on the Burrup Peninsula to serve new industrial developments.
The main category that benefits industry specifically is spending on the state’s ports, which will total about $100 million this year.
This includes construction of the North Quay rail loop and rail terminal at Fremantle, designed to shift container freight from trucks, which travel down Leach High-way to Kewdale and Welshpool.
Another substantial port project this year is construction of a new bulk liquid jetty at Dampier.
This year’s spending on ports follows major upgrades in recent years at regional ports at Esperance, Geraldton, Bunbury and Albany. Industry groups note that much of this spending is funded by borrowings, and that the cost of upgrades ultimately is borne by port users.
Nonetheless, Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Tim Shanahan applauds expansion moves that have occurred.
“To that extent we haven’t suffered the same problems as Newcastle and Dalrymple Bay, but that is no reason to be complacent,” he said.