Including three projects: City & Southwest; West; and Western Sydney Airport, Australia’s biggest infrastructure project, Sydney Metro, encounters significant technical and budget risks, as an independent government review said.
According to review’s interim report, although Sydney Metro should continue to target a 2024 inauguration for full services on the City & Southwest section, it will require a cash injection of A$1.1bn (US$720m). Therefore, this indicates that technical and budget risks are not insurmountable but will require a sustained and concerted effort to project manage over the next 24 months.
Additionally, if any revision to the procurement timings of the remaining Sydney Metro West packages be done, it can highly likely to affect its 2030 opening date.
The review panel found that Sydney Metro was led by a highly experienced, engaged, and very capable senior leadership team but they faced significant challenges in delivering high quality, value-for-money, well-integrated outcomes because of a range of factors.
Historical factors, such as poorly co-ordinated infrastructure planning by government agencies, and an ambiguity of decision-making authority across government; the unavoidable impact of the Covid-19 pandemic; and avoidable matters relating to sub-optimal and delayed decision-making, arising in part from complicated and lengthy governance arrangements, as well as disjointed planning and delivery efforts, were the mentioned factors.
The review panel also identified that across the transport those involved in the project there was a concerning lack of understanding of individual responsibilities for key activities in the upfront planning and commissioning phases of major infrastructure projects. “Complex, sprawling governance and conflicting understandings of accountabilities are key risks to efficient and integrated investment outcomes,” the report says.
The end of 2023 is determined date for presenting review’s final findings and recommendations.
The first two TBMs were commissioned for the 24km Sydney Metro West line in June, while in July the first breakthrough was made on the 23km Western Sydney Airport project. Testing and commissioning is under way on the City & Southwest line.
