ABCDiamond

According to a newpaper report, the QLD Government will announce that they will commit to building 63 primary and high schools in high-growth areas in the next two decades.

In a change from traditional planning, the 52 primary and 11 secondary schools would be located in areas set aside for growth to encourage residential development in those areas.

The Government has already announced tomorrow's infrastructure plan will contain $1.6 billion for the Gateway Bridge duplication and motorway widening, as well as $150 million to extend the Centenary Highway to Ripley and $149 million to duplicate the Houghton Highway.

Mr Beattie also has flagged a second railway line across the Brisbane River between Roma St and South Brisbane.

wargod

Sounds like taxes are going to rise then

JackTheLad

I read the finance proposition for the second gateway bridge. My head was spinning at the end of it. Its some mad scheme about the government lending the money to a private company (or underwriting it) and then the private company collect the tolls once the bridge is built for a huge amount of time, and then at the end of that, the government will own the bridge and collect the tolls to repay the money they'd lent the private company.

Thats a very abbreviated, and probably very inaccurate summary. But it sounds like the QLD government are trying to pull alot of tricks to finance all their future plans.

Cheers,
JTL

bondipom

Toll roads are the future in Australia and probably Britain. 2 new ones are being built for my journey to work to probably add $14 a day to my budget. That will add up to $3360 a year.

spalen

Are they taking the asbestos out of the old school roofs to use in these new ones. Or just ordering new asbestos from good old aussie certified manufacturers.


(roofs ? that spelling cannot be correct? plural of roof? rooves? eh? )

JackTheLad

But does anything force you to use them? Can you still not use your old route?

Looking at toll prices, it might be $3360 a year, but you'd use the toll roads to save time and petrol, I assume.

Cheers,
JTL

bondipom

I'd have to work it out. The shifts force me to use the car which means when starting at 6:30 am I get in in 25 mins. The tunnels are being built under the current route and it will be interesting to see what measures are put in place to stop toll bypassers. I wouldn't mind a viable public transport alternative that didn't take 1hour 30 mins on a good run.

As it is I pay $3 a day to get home under the tunnel.

MrsDagboy

LOL this amused me no end - why & how do you think we have the Gateway Bridge & Logan Motorway?

And Im presuming that a similar idea will apply to the new Hornibrook highway ...... it did for the first one of those as well .

tinaj

Ther are 2 new schools opening up in Caloundra next January. A p-12 Catholic one and another p-12 a few K's away. They need them as the population is growing so quickly.

JackTheLad

I must be missing the joke?

Their financing for the new projects is different. I probably didn't explain it properly. I assume the previous projects were financed by the government giving it to a private company and then they build it and recoup the cost by charging tolls before handing it back to the government.

The new way involves the governemt not only giving the contract but also underwriting, or even loaning the money to the private company to build it, and then the private company gets to make profit for alot of years, and then hands back said project to the government, who then charge for even more years to recoup the money they lent the private company. Well, thats how I understood it,

Its not really that funny,

Cheers,
JTL