“I think from a political level, having the federal government working with the state government and understanding our vision of the state should help them buy that vision,” Perrottet said. “They would help us achieve that instead of choosing projects that are out of sync with the state.”
Stokes said the controversial passenger parking program had been a source of irritation for NSW.
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“Community parking lots absorbed a lot of time and effort that probably didn’t reflect their overall strategic benefit to the economy,” Stokes said.
“The Commonwealth has a powerful role to play in its funding allocations because it will influence which projects we do first, because it will show that leverage funding will allow us to do a lot more.
“So when the Commonwealth comes in and wants to do a series of parking lots, that’s a little frustrating from a state-built infrastructure perspective.”
Infrastructure NSW also recommended that the state’s $ 27 billion annual infrastructure spending be diverted to smaller projects that provide “high yields and faster returns with less budget and delivery risks.”
Stokes said NSW would continue to be in a great state of construction, but would change the timing of its megaprojects and focus on smaller-scale works.
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“One of the things the state infrastructure strategy tells us with megaprojects is to hire them a little later, but look for significant regional projects that you can move forward in the meantime,” Stokes said.
“So there are a lot of other connectivity projects that could better link the beaches in the short term that we can move forward. So we’ll look at that kind of thing.”
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