Queensland’s peak infrastructure body has today welcomed Queensland Government’s announcement of $755 million in funding for Stage 1 of the Coomera Connector, labelling it a smart investment in economically beneficial infrastructure.
QMCA CEO, Andrew Chapman congratulated the State Government on the project’s announcement, “We welcome the announcement by the State Government of funding for Stage 1 of the Coomera Connector, the southern section between Coomera and Nerang. This section of the M1 suffers high levels of congestion and the proposed stage 1 of the Coomera Connector will help to improve road safety, increase capacity and enable better traffic flow. This will support, business and residential communities across the region, but particularly in the Northern Gold Coast.”
“There will also be a direct economic return as we know that for every $1 spent on infrastructure investment, $3 are returned to the economy, helping lead the state’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery. This is a smart investment in infrastructure by the Queensland Government, and they should be congratulated on funding Stage 1 of the project.”
“We welcome the announcement to bring the project forward to commence in 2021. Our modelling of the project pipeline in Queensland indicates that there will be a reduction in construction employment from 2022 as the funded and committed projects conclude. Projects such as Stage 1 of the Coomera Connector are vitally important to ensure the sustainability of the industry.”
“QMCA looks forward to continuing to work with The Department of Transport and Main Roads on the packaging and procurement models to ensure that there are opportunities for construction companies of all sizes with this project, and others in the transport portfolio.”
With funding for the remaining packages reliant on Federal Support, QMCA has called on the Federal Government to support Queensland infrastructure “The Federal Government is rightly championing investment in infrastructure as a key driver of Australia’s economic recovery, the Coomera Connector represents a fantastic opportunity to invest in a Queensland project that will have a direct benefit to employment and growth. Ongoing investment in economic infrastructure is crucial to QLD and Australia’s economic recovery,” said Mr Chapman
