Today I returned to South Road in Adelaide with Labor’s Candidate for Hindmarsh Steve Georganas to inspect the continuing works on the Torrens to Torrens project, which began in 2013 and was funded by the former Labor Government.
The former Labor Government provided $448 million in the 2013 Budget for the Torrens to Torrens upgrade which is creating 500 local jobs, easing congestion, decreasing travel times and boosting South Australia’s productivity.
When I visited the site in August 2013 with Steve Georganas, Member for Adelaide Kate Ellis and then State Infrastructure Minister Tom Koutsantonis preconstruction work was already underway.
But upon being elected the Coalition cut funding for the project and reallocated it to the Darlington Interchange which had not been the subject of Infrastructure Australia analysis and was not shovel ready, causing unnecessary delays and uncertainty.
South Australians should not have to sit in traffic longer because Coalition MPs are playing politics with infrastructure. They just want South Road fixed so that they can get to work and school quickly in the morning and get home to their families at night.
The former Labor Government almost tripled annual infrastructure spending from $109 to $272 per South Australian investing an unprecedented $4.2 billion to modernise South Australia’s road, rail and public transport infrastructure.
Only Labor has a plan to take the politics out of infrastructure and deliver the roads, rail and public transport that South Australia needs.