Page 4654 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 November 2018
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MRS DUNNE: Minister, what is the weekly wage bill for light rail drivers for every week of delay in the commencement of operations of light rail?
MS FITZHARRIS: I will not take that question on notice because, as the opposition well knows, or should by now, Canberra Metro is providing not only the construction of light rail but also the operations and maintenance of the light rail project over a 20-year period, so it will be within the scope of the agreement that the ACTÂ government has with Canberra Metro. Of course, I am happy to update the opposition once again on the procurement method we used for this project. One of the features of that procurement method was that any particular delays in the project will be at the risk and the cost of Canberra Metro, not the ACT taxpayer.
Gungahlin—light rail impact
MR MILLIGAN: My question is to the Minister for Transport. On 20 September you tabled the business impact assessment of ACT government-led construction activities in Gungahlin. Whilst I was very pleased to see that the government responded to community calls for a review and my motion to independently audit the impact on business, I wonder now what the government plans to do with this document. Can you explain what the government will do with the lessons learnt identified in this report?
MS FITZHARRIS: I thank Mr Milligan for the question. The lessons learnt were both for the current project and also for future projects. We certainly will be taking on board those lessons around how to improve collaboration with businesses, noting that there was extensive collaboration and engagement with businesses around the light rail project, and the importance of coordinating ACT government and other private sector construction activities in a particular precinct which may be impacting on businesses, and making sure there is improved coordination. There were matters such as providing information for businesses whose owners do not have English as a first language.
All those lessons will be learnt, and I thank the Canberra Business Chamber and the light rail business link project for the work they did on the impact study. We have used some of those lessons for further work on the light rail construction project as it has impacted the rest of the corridor and we certainly look forward to using those lessons for the construction of stage 2 of light rail to Woden.
MR MILLIGAN: Minister what does this mean for the businesses impacted by light rail during stage 1?
MS FITZHARRIS: It means that we will continue to work very closely through Transport Canberra, Canberra Metro and other ACT government directorates on the construction of light rail. But certainly it was the case that a couple of weeks ago we looked to have a celebration with Gungahlin businesses for not only the completion of construction of light rail stage 1 on the northern end of Hibberson Street but also the opening of what is now the fantastic Hibberson Street shared zone and the Gungahlin bus station. All this goes to the significant investment that the ACT government is making in infrastructure in this city.
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