The ACT government has challenged proponents of light rail for northern Canberra to give evidence backing their claims that cost estimates for the network have been overstated.
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Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell said he was ''sick of the conspiracy theories'' that cast doubt on a recent transport study for the Gungahlin to Civic corridor, which said it would cost $700 million to $860 million to build a 13-kilometre stretch of light rail. But the ACT Greens hit back, saying Canberrans had genuine questions about the government's commitment to light rail and the process it had used to come up with its figures. The stoush followed the publishing yesterday of a survey of 1000 Canberrans that found 68.5 per cent wanted light rail on the corridor, while just 24.3 per cent favoured bus rapid transit. But the number that favoured light rail fell to 45.8 per cent, and the number for rapid buses increased to 46.5 per cent, once respondents were told light rail could cost up to $860 million to build.
The estimated cost of installing bus rapid transit on the corridor is $300 million to $360 million.
ACT Light Rail chair Damien Haas accused the government yesterday of ''artificially inflating the cost of light rail so that people don't want it''.
But those claims were dismissed by Mr Corbell, who called on light rail proponents to back up their assertions with evidence. ''The assessment of cost has been done by a credible engineering firm with national and international experience in these types of projects,'' he said.
''People should engage in a serious debate … rather than pretend that light rail is going to be dramatically cheaper and the government is trying to torpedo the proposal. That's simply not the case.''
Greens transport spokeswoman Amanda Bresnan said it was not surprising the cost estimate had been questioned when a 2008 PricewaterhouseCoopers and Treasury estimate for the project was just $204 million.
Ms Bresnan said the proposed costs were significantly higher than other recent projects elsewhere, including a heavy rail project in Perth, which cost about $17 million per kilometre and included stations, vehicles, track, bridges and tunnels. She said heavy rail generally cost more to build than light rail, but the estimated price tag for the Gungahlin to Civic link was about $65 million per kilometre.
''This morning Simon Corbell seemed to suggest that this was the first time the government was taking light rail or rapid transit seriously,'' she said. ''The question has to be asked then: was the government not taking the issue seriously the numerous times it has done transport studies before, despite claiming it was. Was the light rail bid in 2008 to Infrastructure Australia not actually a serious bid?''
Mr Haas said the government should release the transport study it published last month in its entirety for public scrutiny.
Mr Corbell said neither option had been ruled out.
He said the government would announce its preferred option before the October election.
