New rail and road crossings of Sydney Harbour, and southern and northern extensions of the WestConnex motorway, are key components of a $20 billion infrastructure package for NSW the Coalition government says it will fund by privatising the electricity ‘‘poles and wires’’ network.
Premier Mike Baird declared it to be ‘‘bold plan’’ and rejected suggestions he was promising too much.
‘‘Rather than sitting back and waiting for decades — we have all seen it in people being timid — well it’s time to crack on with it,’’ he said.
However, the plan was shown to be under-funded, with only $1.1 billion allocated for the proposed road tunnel under the harbour and the WestConnex extensions, which will cost a total of about $6 billion.
Graham Bradley, the chairman of Infrastructure NSW, which prepared the plan, said there was ‘‘ a high probability the private sector will step forward’’ to fund those projects by way of tolls.
The government said the WestConnex extensions from Tempe to ‘‘near Kogarah’’ and to Anzac Bridge and Victoria Road in the north would be built within 10 years.
The northern extension would link with a new western harbour tunnel, from Rozelle, where rail yards stand at present, to the Gore Hill or Warringah freeway.
Construction of the road tunnel under the harbour was expected to start at the beginning of the next decade, the government said.
More in the Leader on Thursday
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