INLAND RAIL

ARTC and the Federal LNP have backed themselves into a corner by choosing the most populous greenfield route for the Border to Gowrie (B2G) project of the Inland Rail.

John Fullerton stated in the Senate Estimates meeting on Monday 26/2/ 18 that, “there are about 1000 affected landowners on that big greenfield section.” The State Government have stated they will not support forced land acquisition, clearly showing there is no intergovernmental agreement. There only needs to be a few landholders who won’t negotiate with ARTC and the whole project in QLD will be put into jeopardy.

ARTC has formed the Community Consultative Committees. The formation of these committees is too little too late and will achieve little for the affected communities along the preferred route. They may play the role of negotiating a refinement within the chosen 2km preferred corridor but nothing more. This process should have preceded the decision of the preferred route.

There will be limited market appetite for Public Private Partnerships (PPP) whilst the route stops short of a port. There will be little revenue raised for the government as it does not support the export of commodities such as grain and coal. As the project stands there will be one major beneficiary ARTC, as it will substantially increase the rail network it manages.

LARRY PAPPIN, Inner Downs Inland Action Group, Athol