Australian Constructors Association welcomes the NSW government’s ongoing commitment to spending on infrastructure in the budget handed down today but calls on the government to prioritise working with industry to realise a potential $17.3Bn in annual savings and provide increased clarity on the timing of major infrastructure projects like Sydney Metro West.
ACA CEO Jon Davies noted that ACA’s recently released ‘Nailing Construction Productivity’ report identified that NSW could be saving $17.3Bn annually if it closed the productivity gap between construction and other major industries.
“Industry knows how to become more productive but there are many obstacles to realising them that government, such as through the way it procures projects, is able to remove and drive positive change that will ultimately flow into the private sector and throughout the whole supply chain.”
“ACA is already working collaboratively with a number of government agencies to realise these savings, but budget pressures and scarcity of resources highlight the need to prioritise and expedite this work.”
Government should start by providing industry with increased certainty on the timing of major projects.
“Whilst we welcome the continued inclusion of funding in the budget for the Sydney Metro West project, it is unreasonable to expect industry to wait until the end of the year to get answers on the timing of the remaining sections still to be procured.” said Mr Davies
Contractors had already assembled large teams of skilled personnel to bid and ultimately undertake these complex projects, when the review into the Sydney Metro project was announced. These resources cannot easily be redeployed and so many are simply waiting for a decision to be made by the government rather than being put to a productive use.”
“We also note that the budget papers discuss reprofiling of infrastructure expenditure in line with the first tranche of decisions from the Federal Strategic Infrastructure Review, and call for the government to provide updated details on the timing of budgeted projects as soon as possible.”
“Industry needs certainty and the budget needs savings, by increasing engagement and collaboration with industry we can achieve both.” said Mr Davies
