Job-generating infrastructure, investment opportunities and better services are coming down the pipeline in Queensland’s 2019-20 $12.9 billion capital program. This will support 40,500 jobs, including 25,500 outside of Greater Brisbane.
The annual update of the Palaszczuk Government’s State Infrastructure Plan (SIP) highlights the essential infrastructure including roads, rail, schools and hospitals being delivered as part of the $49.5 billion commitment over the next four years – up $3.8 billion on last year’s figure.
This financial year sees $9.2 billion allocated to economic infrastructure and $3.7 billion for social infrastructure, with 60 per cent being spent outside Greater Brisbane, where it will support more than 25,000 jobs.
Underpinning this investment are the government’s priorities to:
- Create jobs in a strong economy
- Give all children a great start in life
- Keep Queenslanders healthy
- Keep communities safe
- Protect the Great Barrier Reef
- Be a responsive government
The SIP shows how projects are progressing through the pipeline, from concept to business case to reality.
In total, there are 162 infrastructure proposals in the planning phase of the 2019 pipeline, with 67 new proposals. Forty proposals have moved from planning into delivery since 2018 and will be delivered in the next four years.
Since 2015, the Queensland Government has focused on reducing capital program under-expenditure and is forecast to achieve a near-zero per cent underspend for 2018-19, the best performance in ten years.
During this time, more than 207,000 new jobs have been created.
Queensland’s strong infrastructure program underpins and unlocks private sector investment, and its $147 billion pipeline is the nation’s second largest, as reported in the March 2019 Deloitte Access Economics Investment Monitor.
The State Government works closely with the private sector to maintain this investment momentum and to ensure a highly skilled and adaptable workforce is ready to deliver the infrastructure pipeline.
Queensland’s overseas goods exports hit a new 12-monthly record of $85.8 billion to May 2019 – up more than 16 per cent on the same time last year. Minerals exports alone increased $1.2 billion to $10.6 billion, driven by rises in the value of aluminum, zinc, lead and copper.
More than $20 billion worth of new investment in natural resources has been attracted in the past four years, and 44,000 square kilometres of land are earmarked for resource exploration.
The state’s reputation as an energy powerhouse through gas, solar and wind is expanding as it leads a global revolution in renewably produced hydrogen.
Planning approvals are being streamlined to help business cases and project opportunities transition to reality faster.
New state development and priority development areas have been declared to facilitate large scale and heavy industries growth, and the accelerated delivery of community developments.
The Queensland Government has also developed a Strategy for Social Infrastructure to help build thriving and inclusive communities with agile and responsive social infrastructure that grows with its residents.
The strategy, supported by a best practice guide, takes a place-based approach for social infrastructure planning and delivery that is built on stronger cross-agency collaboration to provide easily accessible, well-located and flexibly designed infrastructure that can be adapted to changing needs as Queensland’s population continues to grow past the five million mark.
This 2019 update of the State Infrastructure Plan (SIP) Part B: Program contains all the projects and achievements, with maps and case studies, that reflect Queensland’s infrastructure investment priorities across regions, industry and community – creating the right conditions to unlock private investment, economic growth and jobs.
The State Infrastructure Plan at a glance
- $49.5 billion infrastructure program over the next four years
- Supporting 40,500 jobs in 2019–20
- $23 billion for Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program over four years
- Cross River Rail (including commencement of tunnel and station works)
- $686 million to build and upgrade hospitals and health facilities in 2019-20
- $215 million for Townsville’s Haughton Pipeline in 2019-20
- $28.7 million for Indigenous Councils critical infrastructure program in 2019–20.
This partner content is brought to you by the Queensland Department of State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning. View the State Infrastructure Plan (SIP) Part B: Program here.
