The 6th Annual Queensland Infrastructure Summit will be held on the 26-27 March 2012 at the Hilton, Brisbane. This year’s Summit focuses on sustaining the states rapidly expanding infrastructure future.
Some of the major developments for 2012 include the introduction in late 2011 of the Queensland Infrastructure Plan. The Queensland Government has one of the strongest records of infrastructure investment of any state with a per capita spend over the past 10 years of $1021/person, which is well above the $582/person average of the other states.
The state population is forecast to grow by over two million by 2031 while industries such as mining and resources continue to flourish. Continued growth will require strong infrastructure and, recognising this, the state government has introduced a 20-year plan outlining the “future direction for infrastructure across the state”.
The plan outlines a range of short- and long-term major infrastructure projects which will meet the need of a rapidly-growing economy and population. With investment projects in Queensland surpassing “$78 billion in the March quarter 2011, the highest on record”, the Plan asserts that “strong investment needs strong infrastructure”.
Secondly, in early 2012 the state faced the greatest set of natural disasters in its history in the form of massive flooding and cyclones. The cost of rebuilding after these disasters will add extra challenges to the state’s normal infrastructure provision challenges for the next several years. The estimated cost of rebuilding is $6.8 billion and reconstruction efforts are already well underway.
Finally, the upcoming State election will occur in the first quarter of 2012 and potentially sometime in March. If a new government is elected, there could be a number of changes in infrastructure priorities, as well as the way that projects are financed and delivered.
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