WA infrastructure committee given teeth

WA infrastructure committee given teethMuch-needed reform of the Western Australian Infrastructure Coordination Committee (ICC) is set to ensure investment in projects that deliver the greatest productivity and value for money.In 2014, the Property Council released Mind the Gap: The Cost of WA’s Infrastructure Provisioning Framework.The report found that Western Australia would need to invest $22.1 billion in infrastructure each year until 2040 to meet global benchmarks for infrastructure stock relative to GDP.The report also found that delays to just 10 per cent of development projects due to poor infrastructure provision would cost the state’s economy $1.2 billion each year.”Poor infrastructure provisioning adds unnecessary risk to property development projects, which makes it more difficult for property developers to secure debt financing and to attract capital,” explains the Property Council’s executive director Joe Lenzo.The Property Council recommended the establishment of an independent infrastructure body, tasked to develop a 20-year infrastructure strategy. Although these reforms do not deliver an independent infrastructure body, Lenzo says they do go a long way towards delivering greater alignment between infrastructure provisioning and state strategic land use planning. The body, which is being modelled on Infrastructure Victoria, will produce a 30-year infrastructure plan with five-yearly updates.”We are pleased that the Barnett Government has recognised that the closest thing we have to an infrastructure advisory body, the Infrastructure Coordinating Committee (ICC), needs to have greater status and accountability,” Lenzo explains.Lenzo says reforms to the ICC will strengthen its statutory powers leading to key infrastructure agencies, such as the Department of Transport, having to pay due regard to ICC recommendations when provisioning infrastructure.”The inclusion of private representatives on the ICC is also a step in the right direction,” Lenzo adds.”Implementing a strong infrastructure provisioning process will ensure that scarce infrastructure investment dollars are directed into projects that deliver the greatest productivity and value for money.”Download Mind the Gap: The Cost of WA’s Infrastructure Provisioning Framework.