In this submission, the ARA recommends the following: Governments must produce a consistent and long term pipeline of high quality transport infrastructure projects that can be brought to market. Governments must ensure that projects are suitable for private sector involvement either from the beginning of the project or over the period of the project. Funding and financing models used must also matches the project objectives and aspired outcomes; Funding and financing roles of the governments (all levels) and the private sectors must be clearly defined so the market/funding/financing gaps can be easily identified; Introduce and implement value capture or transit oriented development as part of public transport infrastructure project; Governments must encourage greater use of Public Private Partnerships including reducing the costs of delivering PPPs, reforming bidding and procurement processes, and continuing to develop the PPP model to allow it to be used in more sectors; Support the development of markets to expand the ways private sectors can invest in infrastructure including encourage greater involvement from the superannuation sector, promote privatisation to develop demand for longer term debt and improve liquidity in the Australian bond market; Adopt user pays and accelerate reform of road ricing and review transport subsidies; The Australian Federal Government, through Infrastructure Australia, should fund the development and ongoing implementation of a detailed benchmarking framework for major infrastructure projects in Australia; and The Commission to conduct a review of regulatory burdens on business particularly on the transport sector and make recommendations to governments on key areas for reform. The ARA agrees with the that public infrastructure plays a key role in a Commission’s statement competitive and productive economy and that ongoing funding and financing is of critical importance. The ARA also appreciates that the capacity of government to meet funding expectations to improve infrastructure is often limited, thus great relevance should be placed on the opportunity to use alternative financing options involving the private sector.
In this submission, the ARA recommends the following: Governments must produce a consistent and long term pipeline of high quality transport infrastructure projects that can be brought to market. Governments must ensure that projects are suitable for private sector involvement either from the beginning of the project or over the period of the project. Funding and financing models used must also matches the project objectives and aspired outcomes; Funding and financing roles of the governments (all levels) and the private sectors must be clearly defined so the market/funding/financing gaps can be easily identified; Introduce and implement value capture or transit oriented development as part of public transport infrastructure project; Governments must encourage greater use of Public Private Partnerships including reducing the costs of delivering PPPs, reforming bidding and procurement processes, and continuing to develop the PPP model to allow it to be used in more sectors; Support the development of markets to expand the ways private sectors can invest in infrastructure including encourage greater involvement from the superannuation sector, promote privatisation to develop demand for longer term debt and improve liquidity in the Australian bond market; Adopt user pays and accelerate reform of road ricing and review transport subsidies; The Australian Federal Government, through Infrastructure Australia, should fund the development and ongoing implementation of a detailed benchmarking framework for major infrastructure projects in Australia; and The Commission to conduct a review of regulatory burdens on business particularly on the transport sector and make recommendations to governments on key areas for reform. The ARA agrees with the Commission’s statement that public infrastructure plays a key role in a competitive and productive economy and that ongoing funding and financing is of critical importance. The ARA also appreciates that the capacity of government to meet funding expectations to improve infrastructure is often limited, thus great relevance should be placed on the opportunity to use alternative financing options involving the private sector.
subdr178-infrastructure.docx