By Lynda Myer
Considering the parts of the Sydney Metro program face significant technical and budget risks, this will need a cash injection of up to A$1.1bn (£56M), according to the first findings of a major government review, whereas due to delays to the Sydney Metro West scheme’s procurement schedules and plans, currently the overall project was highly likely to miss its target opening date of 2030.
The stark findings come from an interim report published as part of a review of the Sydney Metro program commissioned by the New South Wales government earlier this year.
As Australia’s biggest public transport project to date, the Sydney Metro program seeks to examine how to tackle some of the program, budget and operational risks.
Sydney Metro West, City and Southwest as well as Western Sydney Airport, are the subsets of Sydney Metro schemes.
Following that New South Wales premier Chris Minns earlier this year called for a major review of the full Sydney Metro program due to cost overruns and delays, these review comes to work.
The Guardian reports, recent estimates suggest that the overall scheme is already A$21bn (£11bn) over budget, while Sydney Metro West had gone over its initial estimates by A$12bn (£6.4bn) to A$25.32bn (£13.44bn).
The interim report published earlier this month identified Sydney Metro’s City and Southwest scheme as the problem section and said that it faces significant technical and budget risks.
“These risks are not insurmountable but will require a sustained and concerted effort to project manage over the next 24 months, as well as an increase to the overall budget envelope of up to A$1.1bn,” the interim report said.
Considering that there is significant uncertainty around the City and Southwest scheme owing to the need to resolve several major technical and commercial matters, the cost could be even higher than forecast.
Running from the end of Metro North West Line at Chatswood under Sydney Harbour through new CBD stations and south west to Bankstown, Sydney Metro City and Southwest will form a 30km extension of metro rail. The schedule is inauguration of this project in 2024 with seven new metro stations and 11 upgraded stations.
In November 2021 Tunneling and excavation on the Sydney Metro City and Southwest was completed, while the scheme is now in the testing and launching phase.
The proposed method for providing the additional A$1.1bn required fund for the Sydney Metro City and Southwest by report is finding cash from the Sydney Metro’s capital funding provision budget.
However, this will cause delays to the Sydney Metro West scheme’s procurement schedules and plans of up to 12 months.
As a result of delays to the procurement of the remaining Sydney Metro West packages, the target 2030 opening date of the overall transport project is highly likely to be impacted, the report said.
All of the tunneling contracts on Sydney Metro West have now been awarded, with the John Holland, CPB Contractors (CPB) and Ghella joint venture (JCG JV) bagging the last major tunneling contract in November 2022.
The final findings and recommendations of the Sydney Metro Review are expected to be published at the end of this year.
