Light rail operator CEO: ‘We need foot on accelerator’
THE CEO of the organisation in charge of building the Gold Coast light rail says the rollout south needs to speed up.
GoldLinq CEO Phil Mumford said the Gold Coast population - tipped to hit a million by 2041 – appeared to be growing faster than that forecast.
“The task we have to solve is not only an Olympics task but we are a faster growing city than what we first envisaged,” Mr Mumford to the Gold Coast Bulletin’s Future GC Roundtable this week.
It would be “ridiculous” if the light rail did not reach the Gold Coast Airport by the 2032 south-east Queensland Olympics, he said.
“Are we building it fast enough? Probably not.”
It echoed fears of Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate who has urged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to stump up $5 million to maintain momentum to start Stage 4’s build south to Coolangatta as soon as Stage 3 to Burleigh is done in 2025.
“Can we build the infrastructure? Yes we can. My concern is we have got to put the foot on the accelerator a bit,” Mr Mumford said.
Future Gold Coast - a luncheon at Sea World on November 30 - features Urbis director Kate Meyrick as a keynote speaker. She has studied transport economics and says: “From 26 cities I’ve looked at, from 1945 till today, there is not one that has sustained a healthy economic trajectory that is not investing in its transport infrastructure.
“Those cities which outperform the average are those which have continually made legacy transport investments.
“You are ahead of the game because you were bold enough to start putting in light rail,” Ms Meyrick said.
At the Roundtable, which included Harbout Town outlet shopping precinct owners Lewis Land Group, city council planning committee chair Cameron Caldwell said light rail construction should not just stop at the airport but “stage after stage after stage”.
“We have Lewis Land Group here, let’s get it to Harbour Town and beyond. We need to be thinking of a network,” he said.