4.23 In its 1 December 2008 Report on the Evaluation of Submissions for Infrastructure Australia's Interim Infrastructure Priority List, the Committee recommended to the Infrastructure Coordinator that six projects for which adequate information had been submitted be considered as priority initiatives for inclusion on the Interim Priority List. These six projects were those that were either a High Priority or Medium Priority and for which a robust BCR had been submitted supported by sufficient information.
4.24 Drawing on information requested in Appendix F of the Prioritisation Methodology, the Office of the Infrastructure Coordinator assessed each of these six initiatives' readiness for delivery and the available funding sources (referred to as the deliverability assessment). The remaining 22 projects were not subject to a deliverability assessment as the Office of the Infrastructure Coordinator considered those initiatives were 'not well enough advanced'.
4.25 The deliverability assessment involved an assessment against seven delivery risks (criteria) with four categories of deliverability established (good deliverability, average deliverability, poor deliverability and insufficient information). As outlined in Table 4.5, the assessment was that the state of readiness varied significantly across initiatives with some proponents having undertaken a detailed analysis of deliverability risks while others had undertaken little work in that area. The deliverability assessment also assisted to inform Infrastructure Australia's evaluation of whether an initiative was suitable for private sector funding or delivery as a Public Private Partnership.
Table 4.5 Results of deliverability assessment: December 2008
Criterion | F3 to Branxton Link (NSW) | Majura Parkway (ACT) | East-West Rail Tunnel (VIC) | Mornington Peninsula Connector (VIC) | Regional Rail Express Line (VIC) | Northern Connector (SA) |
Does the initiative require Commonwealth funding to proceed? | Good | Average | Insufficient information | Insufficient information | Insufficient information | Insufficient information |
What are the construction risks and what budgetary implications do they have? | Good | Insufficient information | Good | Good | Good | Poor |
What are the consequential construction risks? | Good | Average | Good | Good | Good | Average |
What are the financing risks where private finance is involved? | Not applicable | Good | Insufficient information | Insufficient information | Not applicable | Insufficient information |
What are the local environmental risks not captured in the assessment? | Good | Insufficient information | Good | Good | Good | Poor |
What are the social risks involved? | Good | Insufficient information | Good | Good | Good | Average |
Is the proposed governance model robust? | Insufficient information | Good | Insufficient information | Insufficient information | Good | Poor |
Source: ANAO analysis of Office of the Infrastructure Coordinator data