People’s Plan rebuff … Premier Barry O’Farrell / Pic: Cameron Richardson Source: The Daily Telegraph

And it will be 2020 – into a possible third Coalition term – before the North West Rail Link or the M5 duplication is completed as Sydney‘s infrastructure problems continue to worsen.

RTA planning documents show an M5 duplication – expected to be recommended by Infrastructure NSW in September – will take seven years to build, taking its completion date to 2020.

The government has revealed its north west rail project will not be finished until the same year.

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Momentum must become action

An M4 East – seen by People’s Plan Infrastructure expert Gary Sturgess as absolutely critical to Sydney – will take even longer.

And in another blow for Sydney’s infrastructure, Mr O’Farrell said yesterday someone should build a fast rail to Canberra and expand the airport there.

“You … know the attitude of the state government to a second Sydney airport – that is it shouldn’t be built in Sydney and if we’re sensible, we want to be modern; let’s build that fast rail link to the federal capital and let’s use Canberra Airport for whatever additional capacity for flights,” Mr O’Farrell said.

A federal government study on high speed rail found the cost of a Sydney to Canberra link would cost between $10.9 billion and $24.5 billion, depending on the exact route.

Mr Sturgess, a former top bureaucrat in NSW, has declared servicing Parramatta and the missing road links – especially the M4 East – were absolutely critical to take Sydney out of its infrastructure crisis. The state government needed as a second priority to take ownership of a second airport. “The decision on a location for a second Sydney airport must be made now,” Mr Sturgess said.

Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese’s office confirmed yesterday that without Mr O’Farrell’s co-operation, no second airport could be built.

“Sydney needs a vision that anticipates and shapes the future,” Mr Albanese said. “Without a second airport Sydney’s economy will stagnate, threatening not only its position as Australia’s number one global city but also the nation’s future economic opportunities.

“Sydney is already losing out. Last year the number of international flights going to Melbourne grew four times faster than those coming to Sydney, which translates into fewer local jobs and slower economic growth.”

An RTA document, from 2009, said the M5 duplication was critical partly because Sydney Airport will have more than double the passengers by the early 2020s.

Infrastructure NSW is expected to recommend that project first over the M4 East because the M5 would cost $5 billion to build and the M4 East would cost $10 billion.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said: “The self-proclaimed ‘Infrastructure Premier’ is yet to even tell the people of Sydney what major projects he intends to build or how he will fund the roads and rail lines that Sydney so desperately needs.”