Infrastructure industry leaders have assessed South Australia’s budget announcement.
A coordinated approach to heavy construction materials supply will be critical to realising the South Australian Government’s $15.4 billion infrastructure program, according to industry peak body Cement Concrete & Aggregates Australia (CCAA).
Welcoming the 2025–26 State Budget, CCAA flagged several major projects with significant material requirements, underscoring the urgency of developing a statewide Heavy Construction Materials Plan.
CCAA CEO Michael Kilgariff said the viability of government infrastructure commitments depended on close industry collaboration to secure a reliable, affordable supply of essential inputs.
The government’s budget includes a $552.4 million housing initiative to deliver 2935 homes – demanding over 1.5 million tonnes of construction materials when factoring in more than 53 cubic metres of concrete and roughly 180 tonnes of aggregates per dwelling.
Kilgariff also pointed to the scale of concrete requirements for key projects: approximately 1.1 million cubic metres for the Torrens to Darlington (T2D) transport corridor, 84,000 cubic metres for the new $3.2 billion Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and an unspecified but likely significant volume for the $656.3 million regional highway upgrades between Swanport Bridge and Truro.
“These volumes are not marginal – they require long-term planning across the entire supply chain, from quarrying and transport to batching and delivery,” Kilgariff said.
CCAA is calling on the state to formalise a coordinated materials plan to mitigate the risk of cost blowouts and construction delays.
The organisation has warned that without strategic oversight, South Australia’s growing infrastructure pipeline could face serious delivery pressures due to shortages or bottlenecks in material supply.
Also included in the budget is $80 million for Main South Road upgrades, adding further pressure on material sourcing, particularly in peri-urban and regional zones where supply chains are already stretched.
CCAA represents an industry generating $15 billion annually and employing 110,000 Australians directly and indirectly. Its members supply the majority of Australia’s cement, concrete, and aggregates – key inputs for nearly every public and private construction project.
“Delivering this infrastructure agenda will require not just funding, but coordination at every level,” Kilgariff said. “The sooner we align material planning with project pipelines, the more likely we are to meet demand efficiently and sustainably.”
