Page 2549 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 31 July 2019
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shorter travel times to their destinations. They are also anecdotally reporting a change in road traffic.
Significant benefits are being experienced by the number of Canberrans embracing the new services, with light rail patronage already exceeding the projected estimates. Light rail has already celebrated the one-millionth passenger just three months into operations. The government is committed to undertaking a comprehensive review of the project. In February we agreed to report back to the Assembly on these findings within six months of the commencement of light rail services.
In adherence to this commitment, in June the then minister for transport, Meegan Fitzharris, publicly released the City to Gungahlin light rail project delivery report, which measures the performance of the project against the business case. I table a copy of this extensive report:
City to Gungahlin Light Rail—Project delivery report, dated June 2019.
The report reflects on the outcomes from the procurement and delivery of this world-class project and confirms that the delivery of the project was both under budget and largely on time. The project delivery report steps through the successes and challenges of delivering this major infrastructure project. Importantly, the report looks closely at the experiences of the local community, business owners, regulators and the National Capital Authority and sets out lessons learnt through all phases of the project and community engagement.
The key outcomes of the report confirm that the final cost of construction was $675 million and the benefit-cost ratio increase from 1.2 to 1.3, noting that this could improve even further as future benefits are realised. The review project has also been delivered within the time frames of our original investment decision. We have continued to draw on the learnings, not only from our delivery of Canberra’s first stage of light rail but also from other jurisdictions that have delivered, and are delivering, light rail, such as the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Parramatta and other cities around the world.
The report has highlighted the success of the light rail business link program in coordinating and providing an established communication link between local business and government on the project. As a proactive government, we recognise that there is always an opportunity to learn and to improve, even more so as we navigate an environment of change, new experiences and evolving opportunity. That is why we have welcomed the opportunity to deepen our understanding of how we can continue to better work and communicate with local businesses on this project and future projects.
Canberrans have been part of a long conversation on light rail going back to 2011. We had over 5,400 stakeholder discussions and inputs, 29,500 interactions from engagements, letters, face-to-face discussion, construction updates and various programs of outreach, including the light rail business link program.
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