17 September 2015

Alex Greenwich, the Independent Member for Sydney, has called on the NSW Government to provide permanent protection for Moore Park following the Auditor General’s scathing report on the construction of the $38 million Tibby Cotter Bridge over Anzac Parade into Moore Park.

Mr Greenwich said,

“The Auditor General has vindicated community outrage about the project and confirmed suspicions about the justification, deadline and costing.”

"The report proves this was nothing more than short-sighted monument building, that came at a great and unnecessary expense to the tax payer”
 
The Auditor General found that $13 million of public funds were wasted due to the unnecessary deadline and
compressed timetable. The original plan for construction by 2017 identified medium to long-term priority and there was no justification for bringing it forward to February 2015.

The report says:

• The justification for the bridge was weak;
• The justification for fast-tracking was weak and led to the cost blowout;
• Lack of a business case and gateway review meant there was not value for money;
• Cost blowouts were not shown to be justified; and
• Processes to ensure value for money were deficient, with no competitive costing. 

Mr Greenwich said,

“The community’s view that the bridge is an expensive and unnecessary white elephant has been confirmed.”

“We’ve been saying all along that this was ‘the bridge to nowhere’ – it was unjustified with serious parkland impacts, and not connected with cycle routes.

“The government needs to explain what happened and why this occurred.”

Mr Greenwich asked the Auditor General to review the process for the Tibby Cotter Bridge following the lack of information and serious questions about whether it was needed and the massive costs.

"I call on the government to provide permanent protection for the parklands to prevent any more expensive and unnecessary white elephants encroaching on this state heritage listed public open space”, Mr Greenwich concluded.

The Link to the final report is HERE.