Sydney’s M6 motorway will be about half a billion dollars more expensive than the public was originally told, officials have revealed.
The NSW government said in April 2020 that building the project’s first stage, a tunnel connecting Presidents Avenue in Kogarah with the M5 motorway near the airport, would cost $2.6 billion.
But Transport for NSW deputy secretary Camilla Drover told budget estimates on Monday the project budget had been “readjusted” to $3.1 billion.
“That was a reflection not only of the tender pricing, but also some other costs and contingencies that we decided to hold for that project,” she said.
Ms Drover said the project budget had been changed between the time builders were invited to tender and when the government awarded the contract.
She rejected a suggestion the “cost” of the project had increased, despite an earlier statement by a Transport for NSW media spokesman that said “there has been an increase to the M6 stage one project costs of around $400 million”.
“It is still a $3.1 billion budget, but not necessarily a cost – we‘ve got to finish the project to know what the actual cost is,” she said.
Active Transport Minister Rob Stokes also denied the cost had increased.
Responding to a question from Labor MP Daniel Mookhey, who suggested the project cost had more than doubled since it was originally approved at a $1.5 billion budget in 2018, Mr Stokes said: “I don’t necessarily accept the premise of your question.”
“What I'll point you to is that the works themselves, which I think only began last month, are consistent with the amount identified in the budget papers.”
Opposition Leader Chris Minns, whose electorate of Kogarah lies just to the west of the future motorway, seized on the budget estimates confusion in comments to reporterxjmtzyws.
“The Minister today when he was questioned about it refused to provide any information at all,” Mr Minns said.
“This is not the NSW government’s money – it’s the people of NSW’s money. He should be upfront and honest when there’s a cost blowout associated with this sort of infrastructure. At the end of the day, we need to know how much these projects costs.”
When the project went to tender, Australia was grappling with the impact of the coronavirus, which had arrived in the country only months earlier.
The NSW Transport Minister at the time, Andrew Constance, promoted the project as a “major boost to the construction industry” and a way to support struggling workers.
The tunnel will reduce heavy traffic on suburban streets in the area by 2000 vehicles per day and allow drivers to skip 23 sets of traffic lights, according to an April 2020 press release.
Ms Drover said the pandemic created difficulties that meant the budget had to be increased.
“It was one the first large projects that were being procured during the pandemic, it was a material time between when the budget for the project was set and when the project was actually procured,” she said.
“And there were some changes in the market and that‘s necessitated that $400 million position and we took a conservative view in terms of what the project budget should be for that project, given all those externalities.”
