Queensland budget outlines $27.5B investment in transport

Queensland - Budget - Highway - Support — The Coomera Connector – Image courtesy of QLD Government

The Queensland Government has outlined further support for road and infrastructure projects in the 2021-2022 state budget.

The state government has committed a $27.5 billion investment into road and transport development projects over four years, with expectations that the projects will create around 24,000 jobs for local industries.

Over the next four years, the state will invest a total of $52.2 billion in infrastructure projects, including a capital works program of $14.7 billion for infrastructure projects during 2021-22.

Treasurer Cameron Dick flagged the $52.2 billion Infrastructure Guarantee fund as “a cornerstone of Queensland’s COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan.”

“We made the deliberate decision that a temporary reduction of revenue was no reason for a permanent reduction in infrastructure,” the Treasurer said.

Regional Queensland is set to reap benefits from the budget, with 61 per cent of the infrastructure spending occurring outside of Greater Brisbane.

The Bruce Highway Upgrade project is the biggest road project supported by the announced investments, with $883 million jointly funded from the state government, to build a four-lane bypass at Tiaro, north of Gympie, and upgrades between Gladstone and Proserpine and north of Townsville.

Other investments in the project include $1.1 billion allocated for the Rockhampton Ring Road project, $662.5 million for widening between Caboolture-Bribie Island Road and Steve Irwin Way and $514.3 million to construct bridges and approaches on the Haughton River Floodplain.

A jointly funded investment of $500 million with the federal government will upgrade the Inland Freight Route between Charters Towers and New South Wales.

Construction on the $367.2 million jointly funded Rockwood Pier will continue during 2021-22, with the project set to be completed in mid-2023.

Further investments include an additional $148 million to be delivered as part of the $1 billion Works for Queensland program for maintenance and minor infrastructure projects by regional councils.

A further $70 million in additional funding has been provided for Building our Regions program to support local government infrastructure projects in regional Queensland, with a focus on water and sewerage infrastructure projects. This latest funding takes the total government funding in this program to $418.3 million.

Projects such as the Cairns Convention Centre refurbishment and stage 2 of the Haughton Pipeline project also received a funding boost of $74 million and $85 million respectively.