CRUISY PROMISE

MAYOR Tom Tate is promising ratepayers they will not tip in one cent for the building of his planned oceanside cruise ship terminal.

Councillors are privately voicing concerns that money could be diverted to the special project rather than to much-needed transport upgrades, as the Mayor prepares his draft budget.

“No ratepayers’ funds will be needed for the actual construction,” Cr Tate said.

MAYOR Tom Tate is promising ratepayers they will not tip in one cent for the building of his planned oceanside cruise ship terminal.

Councillors are privately voicing concerns that money could be diverted to the special project rather than to muchneeded transport upgrades, as the Mayor prepares his draft budget.

But Cr Tate yesterday said: “Ratepayers will not be asked to fund construction of our oceanside cruise terminal.

“Council officers are working on finalising our business case which will go to the State Government, once the State has finalised its Spit masterplan.”

The Government expects to complete the masterplan in July, enabling council to put up its business case for state and federal approvals.

“Once that is achieved, we will go to out with a worldwide expression of interest for a consortia to build and operate the terminal. No ratepayers’ funds will be needed for the actual construction,” Cr Tate said. “The proponent will then enter a long-term lease with the city to operate the terminal for several decades. That’s how these projects work so I make it clear, ratepayers are not building the terminal but will be long-term beneficiaries.’’

The costs to ratepayers to get the project shovel-ready are tipped to be $7.4 million to $10.45 million.

A confidential consultant report to council prepared in March 2017 noted the city had the cash reserves to help with some of the expenditure for construction.

But there was currently no committed finance to build the project, and some of those reports speculated on the possibility of exploring the option of a public-private partnership on the design, build and financing.

A council insider this week said: “Councillors are asking whether the city is putting away $400 million for the offshore cruise ship terminal, or any other project ahead of traffic solutions across the city.”

However yesterday, a week after a majority of councillors failed to back up the Mayor’s congestion-busting taskforce plan, Cr Tate talked up fixing roads.

The council’s annual budget survey had been running for several weeks and people were making it clear that road congestion was the number one issue, he said.

“More than 850 have responded with the top three priorities being roads, traffic and transport,” Cr Tate said.

The key challenge in delivering $1.5 billion city budget in mid-June was ensuring any state road upgrades occurred at the same time as local road upgrades, Cr Tate said.

“There is nothing worse than seeing a local road upgrade completed and traffic flowing again, only to have a state upgrade start shortly after, in the same area.’’

The online survey is at: gchaveyoursay.com.au/budget19-20. It closes on March 15.

SO I MAKE IT CLEAR, RATEPAYERS ARE NOT BUILDING THE TERMINAL BUT WILL BE LONG-TERM BENEFICIARIES. MAYOR TOM TATE