A NUMBER of key SA regional projects have been included in a list of priorities in need of funding, issued by Infrastructure Australia.
While the past three years had seen no new SA projects on the list, this year the list has included the Eyre Peninsula Iron Road project, the Strezlecki track upgrade and mobile coverage, a bypass of Truro, a regional bulk port development on Yorke Peninsula and a push to upgrade numerous roads.
The Infrastructure Australia Priority List is considered to be a menu of cost-benefit checked and approved projects eligible for Commonwealth funding - plus a list of initiatives that have been recognised as worthy of further development to 'funding ready' project status.
A projects inclusion on the list is considered important in the lead up to the Commonwealth "election" Budget, to be released in May.
Welcoming the release of the new IPL, South Australian Freight Council executive officer Evan Knapp said he was greatly relieved that Infrastructure Australia has finally discovered SA - adding several new South Australian initiatives to the IPL.
"In particular, the SAFC welcomes four new transport infrastructure initiatives - all of which are Freight Council priorities, as outlined in our submission to the SA 20-year State Infrastructure Strategy," he said.
"The Higher Productivity Freight Network initiative will allow larger trucks to safely access main highways - cutting freight costs and reducing the total number of trucks on our roads.
"Cutting freight costs means a bigger profit for freight generating businesses, which leads to economic growth and more jobs.
"The Outer Ring Route Capacity Improvements initiative will look at the critical link between Adelaide's South Eastern Freeway and the under construction North South Corridor - an initiative designed to pre-empt traffic flow change impacts expected to appear in 2030."
Mr Knapp also welcomed a push to remove rail level crossings across SA, as has been done in Vic.
"This improves safety, and offers congestion reduction benefits for both the freight industry and commuters," he said.
"Most importantly, road maintenance and road condition are finally firmly on the IPL agenda.
"This offers hope that SA's $800 million plus road maintenance backlog will be rapidly addressed, with Commonwealth support."
Mr Knapp said the SAFC could now look forward to both the SA and Commonwealth budgets - both 'election' budgets - and called on the Marshall and Morrison Governments "to bring these productive infrastructure initiatives for SA to the forefront of budgeted plans for a potential new term of government".
The SA Chamber of Mines and Energy has also welcomed the inclusion of the South Australian Road Network Maintenance High Priority Initiative and the Northern South Australia Productive Water Security Initiative, saying it aligns with SACOME's advocacy efforts.
"SACOME has repeatedly called for increases to road maintenance funding for important regional freight routes, recognising that these roads are critical to South Australian economy," a release from SACOME said.
"The announcement of $100 million of funding to begin work on regional roads like the Augusta, Sturt and Eyre highways is welcomed."
But there has also been criticism of the list with the National Farmers Federation saying "regional Australia is once again the poor cousin".
They say, of the identified 'High Priority Projects', not a single one is in a regional area - with only Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane rating a mention.
"Unfortunately, if this is what the government means when it says it's committed to regional Australia than it smacks of rhetoric rather real action," NFF President Fiona Simson said.
Ms Simson said it proved that the way projects were assessed and prioritised was broken.
"There is something drastically wrong with this process when Western Sydney alone is identified for more than $7 billion of new high priority infrastructure projects and regional Australia is almost completely ignored.
"Bureaucratic processes, such as needlessly high discount rates for cost-benefit analysis set by Treasury, deprioritise and demote regional infrastructure as afterthoughts.
"We are calling on state and federal treasuries to review the high discount rates used to assess infrastructure proposals that disadvantage investment proposals in projects with long-term horizons for benefits, this includes most regional projects."
Ms Simson said while Infrastructure Australia had identified regional initiatives, these needed to be fully-costed and shovel-ready.
"Regional Australia is home to 8m Australians," she said.
"It's insulting that our social and economic needs are somehow viewed to be worth less than the 2m residents of Western Sydney.
"Our regions deserve a shovel-ready, high priority list for development investments to be drawn up otherwise the government risks their commitment being seen as nothing more than a bumper sticker."
- Details: infrastructureaustralia.gov.au/search-priority-list-map
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