The NSW Government’s signature public transport project, Sydney Metro, faces a number of serious risks which have been revealed in a confidential internal document prepared by Sydney Metro officials.
The document reveals that the Sydney Metro’s project’s core strategic objectives are now at risk because of a range of serious issues facing the project.
Many of these risks have been rated by Sydney Metro as either Very High or High and include:
- Failure to ensure effective community support (High)
- Inability to maintain an effective working relationship with Government stakeholders (High)
- The delivered Metro network fails to deliver expected long term benefits (High)
- Failure to meet place making outcomes (High)
- Insufficient availability and capability of supply chain (Very High)
- Sydney Metro is unable to successfully manage an increasingly complex interfaces (Very High)
- Catastrophic health, safety or security event occurs during Sydney Metro delivery (High)
- Sydney Metro operations are compromised (High)
- A high- profile safety or security event on the Sydney Metro Network (Medium)
- Failure to deliver Sydney Metro projects within the approved budget envelope (High)
- Inability to attract and retain skilled resources to meet Sydney Metro workforce requirements (High)
The NSW Government has already spent $12.96 billion on the City and Southwest metro rail line and will pump $5.1 billion into the project over the next two years.
This will increase the total cost of the metro line between Chatswood and Bankstown via the CBD to $18.5 billion, which is far higher than the original budget of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion.
NSW Shadow Minister for Transport Jo Haylen MP said:
“After spending billions of taxpayer dollars, the Government’s signature public transport project now faces a series of major risks, including failure to deliver expected long term benefits as well as more delays.
“The metro was meant to transform public transport across Sydney and deliver massive improvements for passengers, but the government’s mismanagement now means there’s real risk of this becoming a very expensive missed opportunity and an inferior service.
“The government has serious questions to answer. The Premier and the Infrastructure Minister need to end the waste and mismanagement and turn this project around.”
JO HAYLEN MP
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT
