The Master Builders Association is renewing calls for the ACT government to speed up the delivery of its $14 billion infrastructure program, as new stats reveal a steep drop in the value of work completed in the nation's capital.
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The same Australian Bureau of Statistics data do, however, provide some positive news for Canberra's residential construction sector.
The bureau's figures, published earlier this week, showed that just $147 million worth of engineering construction work was completed in the December quarter, down 33.5 per cent on the same time last year.
The decline is unsurprising given there are no major infrastructure projects underway in the ACT.
The two largest projects in the government's sights - light rail's extension to Woden and the Canberra Hospital expansion - are still in the planning phase.
They headline the government's ambitious long-term infrastructure plan, which includes $14 billion worth of projects across health, education, transport, city services, culture and recreation and planning. The plan, published last year, does not set firm delivery dates for any of the projects.
Master Builders Association of the ACT chief executive Michael Hopkins said the figures published this week should spur the government into accelerating the roll out of the job-creating, economy-stimulating projects.
Mr Hopkins said the peak body wasn't in the business of advocating for one project over another. Rather, it simply wanted to ensure there was a steady supply of work, planned for well in advance, to sustain and grow the local industry.
Proper, long-term planning would help avoid quiet periods, such as the one being experienced at the moment, he said.
"It also means we won't have a situation where all the projects come at once," he said.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said quarterly construction figures were volatile, with one significant project - such as light rail - having the potential to significantly influence the overall result.
Amid the economic threats of coronavirus, the bushfire recovery and looming changes to the distribution of GST revenue, Mr Barr said the government was committed to investing in projects which provided the jobs and infrastructure the city needed. Light rail and the SPIRE hospital upgrade were two examples, he said.
Overall construction work in the December quarter was down 11.5 per cent on the same time last year, and the result would have been far worse but for a bumper three months in the residential construction sector.
Close to half a billion in residential development was completed at the end of 2019, up 10.8 per cent on the September quarter.
The spike bucked the national trend, with the value of housing projects completed Australia-wide down four per cent on the previous quarter.
Mr Barr was encouraged by the uptick, particularly given that housing accounted for the bulk of construction work completed in the ACT.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
