The people of this state can not be blamed if they take this latest transport plan with a grain of salt.
The present government has been in office for fifteen years and in that time it has announced fourteen widely different transport plans, all of which were subsequently cancelled - as is the case with the proposed $ 5 billion Metro.
Each announcement - and cancellation - has been at great cost to the taxpayer. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on drawing up these plans, acquiring property and letting contracts for preliminary work. This waste of public money has not improved our outdated rail system and left Sydney a car reliant city.
This time around the plan intends to finally extend rail to Sydney's west, extend the light rail system, buy six new ferries - and provide a thousand new buses. The details on finding the money to create this are vague, but it has been suggested that car registrations will take a hit.
Surely it is no coincidence that this bright idea is trotted out with an election just over a year away - and that even if the plan is implemented we are talking about an event that will occur decades into the future.
There is an old adage about leopards not being able to change their spots.
On past history, this particular leopard is indeed a very spotty beast !
No comments:
Post a Comment