Major Queensland road projects listed in the Bligh Labor Government’s South East Queensland infrastructure blueprint have never been properly cost checked, the LNP said today

LNP Main Roads spokeswoman Fiona Simpson said the revelations came after Main Roads Minister Craig Wallace was questioned during Parliamentary Estimates Committee hearings on how many of his road projects in SEQIPP had been through preliminary cost evaluation.

“Queenslanders wanted value for money for their dollars, after all, it is their money and it should be treated with respect and value demanded of all projects,” Ms Simpson said.

“While the Minister has no clue about the projected costs of many projects, we know the Ipswich Motorway blew its original projected budget by $800 million, because it was shoddily scoped and costed.

“Numerous road and transport projects are listed in SEQIPP without any proper cost evaluation let alone a ‘p-rating’ to assess the rigour of the costing and planning.

“Incredibly, many projects have never been rated for their cost rigour in SEQIPP, which means they’re immature plans with rubbery costs.

“Without greater costing rigour for road projects, SEQIPP is just hot air and high aspiration from Premier Bligh and Labor.

“This revelation means it can no longer be considered a working document which can seriously be used to guide the growth and development of SEQ.

Ms Simpson said the Minister’s claim his statement that his department does not do in-depth cost analysis on projects that may not stack up was understandable.

“But how does Minister Wallace explain the multitude of projects in SEQIPP for which this analysis has not been done?  Is he saying they may not stack up either?”

Ms Simpson called on the Minister to release a full list of the road projects in SEQIPP that had undergone cost evaluation and been assigned a p-rating to help track their progress of development and delivery.