CME calls for infrastructure plan
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy has joined the chorus of industry bodies calling on the State Government to improve infrastructure planning in WA, lobbying for a dedicated agency to plan and deliver major projects in the State.
In a report on the infrastructure needs of the State's resources industry, launched last night, the peak lobby group says that despite recent progress by the State Government there still "remains a shortage of detailed planning across asset classes" in WA.
The report, Investment in Resources: Sector Infrastructure, calls on the State Government to establish an "arms length" body similar to the Federal Government's Infrastructure Australia to help plan and deliver major projects necessary for economic growth.
CME said long-term projects - those that sit outside the four-year electoral and budgetary cycle - received little significant attention from Government departments.
A new Infrastructure WA was needed to ensure planning was overseen by an independent body that could advise on longer-term infrastructure priorities.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief economist John Nicolaou made the same call in an opinion piece in WestBusiness late last year, as did the Property Council in mid-2013.
Opposition leader Mark McGowan won widespread support from business groups when the Labor Party made a promise to establish such an infrastructure body if it won last year's State election.
