Inconsistent road standards hit the hip pocket

Inconsistent road standards hit the hip pocket’Gold plated’ council road requirements are driving up the cost of new housing in South East Queensland, according to new research commissioned by the Property Council of Australia.The infrastructure standards review, undertaken by Calibre Consulting, compares the local, neighbourhood and inter-suburban road standards across the Brisbane, Ipswich and Moreton Bay local government areas.Chris Mountford, executive director of the Property Council in Queensland, says inconsistent infrastructure standards across various local government areas is leading to huge variances in costs, which are then passed on to home buyers.For example, a typical suburban local road in Brisbane costs $407,360 per km, while the equivalent road in Ipswich is 35 per cent more expensive, costing $549,869 per km. The cost is even higher in Moreton Bay, with the $555,162 per km price tag effectively translating into a 36 per cent premium for local residents.”In the end, it is homebuyers and rate payers who are paying these significant cost variations for what are effectively the same roads in neighbouring local government areas,” Mountford says.Residents in the Brisbane City Council shouldn’t breathe easy, though, with Moreton Bay Regional Council delivering inter-suburban roads at 40 per cent of the price paid by Brisbane City Council.”For bigger inter-suburban roads, it costs $1.4 million per km to meet Brisbane City Council requirements, half a million dollars more than Ipswich and Moreton Bay,” Mountford explains.The Property Council is calling on the Queensland Government to introduce a standard road design manual for South East Queensland councils to adopt to create uniform, pragmatic and fit-for-purpose infrastructure design requirements across the jurisdictions.”This might bruise a few engineers’ egos, but it will ease pressure on housing prices and create cost savings for councils through administrative efficiencies,” Mountford says.While the new report only analysed road costs, the Property Council says similar inconsistencies exist in other forms of local infrastructure.”We want to see the Queensland Government undertake a full review of all local infrastructure types to call out over-engineered standards and create administrative and cost savings.”Download the SEQ Infrastructure Standards Review.