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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Jasper Lindell

ACT confident of funding as federal projects face the axe

The ACT's Transport Minister is confident Canberra will not miss out despite a review of federal infrastructure spending commitments finding $33 billion in cost overruns.

The federal government is poised to cut a range of federal infrastructure projects in an effort to ease inflation, with talks underway with states and territories to determine spending priorities.

Chris Steel said the ACT government thought the review would be positive for the ACT, which had suffered from underinvestment under the previous federal coalition government.

"We've already been working with the Australian government, with [Infrastructure Minister] Catherine King, to announce major investments, in projects like light rail, which will support more people being moved efficiently around our city as our population grows," Mr Steel said.

Mr Steel said he believed the ACT had a "very strong case" to argue for future Commonwealth investment in territory infrastructure and transport projects.

ACT Transport Minister Chris Steel. Picture by Gary Ramage

"We're committed to light rail, it's already under construction with the enabling project of raising London Circuit and we're looking forward to making further announcements about finalising the procurement for stage 2A," he said.

Mr Steel made the comments at the Canberra Institute of Technology, where the ACT and federal governments announced 3600 more fee-free TAFE places at the institute over three years from 2024.

Meanwhile, Ms King said the Commonwealth's investment pipeline, which had increased from 150 to 800 projects under the previous government, had not been managed well.

However, the minister did not say how many infrastructure projects would be cut.

"It is simply just not sustainable for the pipeline to continue the way that it is after a decade of being used for political purposes," she told ABC radio on Monday.

"There's been evidence that this infrastructure pipeline has not been managed and not been managed well, and obviously, that is also causing inflation pressures."

The review looked at about 200 infrastructure projects, with recommendations being made about cancelling some.

"It's made some recommendations around making sure we've got planning money and we slow the process down so we know what the costs are," Ms King said.

"We have to do this in partnership, we have to do it in collaboration with states and territories. They are partners with us, we are investors alongside them."

The minister indicated talks were under way with each jurisdiction on what projects would still be needed.

"What I don't want to do is promise people that we're going to build something when it clearly is not going to be built," she said.

The infrastructure pipeline was estimated to be worth more than $120 billion.

Ms King announced a 90-day review of the pipeline in May in a bid to make the program more sustainable.

At the time, 162 programs in the pipeline had a government commitment of $5 million or less.

Projects that had been announced in the budget or had already started construction were not affected by the review.

Opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie hit out at the government for not specifying which projects would be affected.

"The prime minister needs to guarantee that projects to assist with the congestion in our crowded cities and suburbs will not be cut," she said.

with AAP

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