Greens NSW spokesperson on transport, Dr Mehreen Faruqi MLC, has welcomed the passing of her ‘call for papers’ on the WestConnex Project, which may force the government to reveal the business case. Dr Faruqi’s motion was passed, with some amendments, yesterday afternoon by the Legislative Council.
“WestConnex is the largest infrastructure project in Australia, and yet the public has not seen the business case nor a detailed justification for why this is a priority – all we’ve seen is a glossy executive summary with pretty pictures.
“My motion, which was placed on the paper back in October, will force the Government to reveal the business case, including details of traffic forecasting, home acquisitions, placement of smoke stacks and patronage.
“Although my freedom of information request late last year revealed that the Government was relying on the same traffic forecasters used in the failed Clem 7 tunnel in Brisbane, we still do not know the extent of how shaky the business case for this project is. Thanks to this Greens motion, we will soon see.
“As a civil engineer, I know that this toll road is as needless as the compulsory acquisition of properties and parks.
“Finally, the communities who will be severely affected by the unnecessary WestConnex Tollway and that have been calling for transparency will see the flimsy evidence that it is based on.
“The Government has tried its hardest to avoid the elephant in the room, that the WestConnex Tollway is a $12 billion dollar lemon that will do nothing to ease Sydney’s congestion crisis.
“I have been talking to communities in the Inner West and Western Suburbs and they have consistently said they are fed up with this Government’s lack of consultation and lack of transparency on this issue.
“We all know that Sydney has a congestion problem, but WestConnex will not reduce congestion, rather it will contribute to pollution and global warming as well as suck away massive public funds from investment into real, integrated transport solutions,” she concluded.
Published in Indian newspaper Australia
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