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SYDNEY: The Australian government yesterday gave the go-ahead for a second international airport for Sydney, ending decades of indecision with a move predicted to boost the national economy.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed that Badgerys Creek in western Sydney will be the site of the new airport, with planning to start immediately and construction from 2016.
“It’s a long overdue decision which, to be honest, has been shirked and squibbed [dodged] by successive governments for far too long,” the prime minister told reporters.
Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport is the main gateway into Australia but suffers from capacity limits, with a former transport minister describing it as “built in an age when planes were small and few”.
Abbott said that without a second airport Sydney would be “grievously underserviced”, adding that the current airport would not be able to cope with forecast growth in passenger numbers in coming decades.
Badgerys Creek, about 45km west of Sydney’s central business district, has long been proposed as a second airport site but had previously been shelved due to fears of a local voter backlash.
Abbott, who swept to power in elections last September vowing to be known as an “infrastructure prime minister”, said the development would proceed on a “roads first, airport second” basis.
The cost of the estimated A$2.5 billion (RM7.61 billion) airport will be met mainly by the private sector, and the first flight was realistically not likely until the mid-2020s, he said.
This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 16, 2014.
