The head of Canberra's peak architecture body has called for consistency and strategic management of major infrastructure contracts, including for the $783 million light rail line to Gungahlin.
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Australian Institute of Architects ACT chapter president Andrew Wilson said moves by governments in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland to cancel major contracts had damaged industry confidence and left taxpayers with large compensation costs.
Any move by an incoming Liberal government, after the 2016 territory election, to cancel contracts with the consortium picked to build and operate the 12-kilometre line could debilitate long-term strategic planning and weaken other design and procurement processes.
The comments come after Mr Wilson used an institute update to tell members major infrastructure projects would benefit from "the development of clear objectives broken down to three to four-year milestones to overcome political cycles.
The ACT Liberal opposition will seek to stop development of light rail if it wins next year's election, with transport spokesman Alistair Coe welcoming taxpayer compensation of more than $400 million for Victoria's aborted East West Link road tunnel project in April.
Mr Coe and Opposition Leader Jeremy Hanson have stood by their plans, despite criticism from Prime Minister Tony Abbott who said governments should honour contracts.
Mr Wilson said the local building industry and design services sector needed continuity of work and cancelling contracts resulted in years of waste and delay.
"When a major project gets politicised, and it's going to to go ahead with one government but a change of government will abort that, at the end of the day it's the taxpayer who pays for the cost of delay," he said.
"What the Institute of Architects is looking for is consistency of policy and implementation based on sound planning and design professional advice and is not subject to the whims of a three-year election cycle."
He called for both sides of politics to agree on a strategy for effective infrastructure planning.
"Under the current system, projects may not get founded on good basic information and may be delayed at a great cost.
"In the past there have been, at national and state and territory levels, departments that have been responsible for forecasting work and underpinning the basis for doing the work with good reason."
Mr Wilson called on all members of the Legislative Assembly to consider light rail's benefits for Canberra and not rely only on political rhetoric.
