Bailey defends $960 million CRR cost blowout, dismisses 2032 …

Transport Minister Mark Bailey on Saturday morning defended the £960 million cost blowout in the state's flagship transport project, saying it had no implications for future 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games projects. Bailey on Friday afternoon released independent advice that the £5.4 billion Cross River Rail project will now cost £6.3 billion and not be completed until "first quarter 2026", not 2025 as planned.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey defends the 17.5 per cent - £960 million - increase in Brisbane's now £6.3 billion underground Cross River Rail in April 2023.Credit:Tony Moore On Saturday, he said he "did not expect" the 17.5 per cent cost increase to be reflected in future Olympic infrastructure projects, now being overseen by the Queensland Government.[1]

"Hopefully, we will not have another global pandemic in the next 10 years," Bailey said, after itemising material supply lines, cost increases in steel and concrete and the global pandemic behind the project's blowout. He said the federal government was trying to reduce inflation, weather was shifting to drier conditions and supply chains were slowly returning to 2019 times. Loading

"All those factors have had impacts collectively, and I expect that all of those things have either faded, or are fading and that will help us with our construction task going forward."

Bailey said the independent cost report for Cross River Rail examined costs over the previous three years.

"When we bought down the budget in 2017 for Cross River Rail, nobody anticipated we would have a global pandemic that locked down economies across the world," he said.

References

1. ^ now being overseen by the Queensland Government. (www.brisbanetimes.com.au)