Leading industry council supports infrastructure report card

The Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) supports the findings of, and congratulates Engineers Australia on Wednesday’s release of its Infrastructure Report Card on Queensland.

AGIC is a not-for-profit organisation established to develop and implement a national sustainability rating scheme for Australian infrastructure. The organisation has 80 members representing more than 67,000 staff.

“Engineers Australia’s Queensland Infrastructure Report Card is a very comprehensive document and accurately portrays the current status of Queensland’s infrastructure by sector,” Doug Harland, AGIC CEO, said.

“It is clear from the report that funding the state’s infrastructure to sustainably support Queensland’s unprecedented population growth represents a huge challenge in all infrastructure sectors. The report highlights the impact of the major transport infrastructure investment in urban SEQ that is currently compromising both regional transport infrastructure maintenance and much-needed new projects to support the Surat Basin development.”

The presentation also focused on the degraded condition of the Warrego highway as a key example of regional infrastructure deterioration. This is the combined result of insufficient maintenance and up to 5000 B-double freight trucks per day passing through the city of Toowoomba. Both road and rail corridors are in need of urgent maintenance and upgrades and the city bypass planned for the range crossing will be vital to adequately and safely service the transport issues associated with the Surat basin development. This freight needs to be carried on far safer, and more efficient rail networks.

The summary for the energy, water and communication infrastructure sectors also reflects accurately the current status of this infrastructure.

“Sustainability issues need close attention as infrastructure designers, constructors and operators deal with population growth, skill shortages, resource depletion, climate change impacts and biodiversity loss,” Harland said.

With AGIC’s national, infrastructure sustainability rating scheme due for testing mid 2011, AGIC is advocating the inclusion of sustainability performance in Engineers Australia’s next Infrastructure Report Card.