Developers and businesses along the route for the first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop will be asked for as much as $11 billion to help pay for it as the state government refused to guarantee the rail project won’t face further blowouts.
“In relation to the value capture mechanisms that were recommended in the business investment case in 2021, there was three recommended to government. One was a land tax surcharge. The second was a developer surcharge and the third was a car parking surcharge,” he said. “If you’re asking me to guarantee that in 2035 it will be $34.5 billion dollars, within that range, fine. But I just recognise the fact that it’s 2024 now and what can happen,” Pearson said.His comments come after Treasurer Tim Pallas on Thursday rejected suggestions that the cost of SRL stage one could blow out to more than $42 billion. He said he remained confident that the project could be delivered in the predicted range.
Asked whether that would include universities such as Monash and Deakin that could benefit from the rail loop, Pearson said “that work remains ongoing”.