The Iemma Labor Government must come clean with commuters and tell them exactly when they can expect to see Tcard operational and construction milestones following revelations the company behind the development is borrowing $14 million to keep the project afloat, Shadow Minister for Transport Barry O’Farrell said today.
“Tcard is another Labor transport promise commuters are still waiting for,” Mr O’Farrell said.
“It was originally intended to be up and running for the 2000 Olympics[*1]!
ReplyDelete“Taxpayers have already contributed $54 million towards this overdue project and have seen precious little progress.
“If new construction and operational milestones have been set, John Watkins needs to tell commuters when they can expect to see them.
"The Opposition first flagged concerns about Labor's choice of contractor for the project back in 2001[*2].
“John Watkins has already pushed back the date of the field trials – in November last year it was to be “field trials mid-2006[*3]”, but now those trials won’t start until the end of the year.
“The Government claims it is still committed to delivering Tcard by 2007, but it’s own budget papers have pushed that out to 2008[*4].
“The only firm commitment made to commuters on this long overdue project was that ‘Tcard should be fully operational within the next three to five years’[*5].
“Commuters deserve to know when they can expect the State Government to deliver on significant operational and construction milestones.
“This project is going nowhere, yet the Government is still telling commuters it will be ready by next year,” Mr O’Farrell said.
*1 Labor Transport Minister quoted in SMH 28/2/98
*2 LA Hansard extract 7/11/02
*3 John Watkins Press Release 16/11/05
*4 Infrastructure Statement 2006/07 p. 139
*5 LA Hansard 16/11/05