MOTORISTS will be slugged with new tolls if a proposed new road tunnel beneath Sydney Harbour and extensions to the WestConnex motorway are to become reality.
Premier Mike Baird's $20 billion infrastructure plan, released this week,is dependent on voters giving the Coalition a mandate at the election in March next year to privatise the electricity "poles and wires".
"If we don't win, this doesn't happen," he said.
However, the promised $20 billion windfall from the power "sell-off"' wouldn't cover the cost of the harbour road tunnel and WestConnex extensions to the south and north.
Only $1.1 billion was earmarked to "invest" in the three projects, which together would cost more than $6 billion.
Graham Bradley, chairman of Infrastructure NSW said there was "a high probability the private sector will step forward" to fund the projects.
This would "relieve taxpayers of the need to do so and free up funds for additional infrastructure", he said.
Mr Baird 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 to the Gore Hill or Warringah Freeway.
Mr Baird said construction of the harbour tunnel was expected to start at the beginning of the next decade.
A previously mooted extension from Sydenham to Hurstville was listed as a future project, but not included in the $20 billion package.
Mr Baird declared it to be "bold plan".
"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.
‘UNBELIEVABLE’
Opposition Leader John Robertson said the promises ‘‘simply don’t pass the believability test’’.
‘‘Mike Baird is nothing more than a desperate salesman who will promise anything to get his privatisation of our electricity network across the line,’’ he said.
‘‘This plan is nothing more than more glossy brochures for projects that will likely never be delivered.
‘‘It contains little more than projects that have no start date, no completion date, no budget allocations and, in many cases, lack a simple business case.’’
Mr Robertson said the only guarantee was privatisation of the ‘‘poles and wires’’ would lead to higher power bills and a lack of money to fund hospitals and schools.
Do you think the Baird plan is credible?