Tasmanian jobs would flow from the Hodgman Government’s faster TasWater Infrastructure upgrade plan, state Treasury believes.
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“The re-profiling of TasWater’s capital expenditure program by Infrastructure Tasmania results in additional investment of $437 million in the five years to 2022-23,” Treasury assessment of the plan said.
“This would generate a significant additional level of economic activity ...
“Relative to the level of infrastructure investment each year in TasWater’s original 10-year plan, the re-profiled program would lead to higher levels of employment, particularly in the construction industry, over this period.”
Treasury expected the extra workers would largely be Tasmanian.
“If TasWater is able to align its projects and its contracts over the five-year period to provide a sustained high level of work for the major construction firms in the state, this will encourage these firms to expand their workforce, including taking on more apprentices,” it said.
“It is expected that the greater the longer term certainty for these businesses, the less TasWater will have to source firms from interstate for its infrastructure projects and programs.”
The government wants to take over council-owned TasWater from July 1 next year.
TasWater is part-way into a 10-year upgrade program, which the government aims to complete within five years from July 1.
The takeover has been opposed by TasWater and many local government figures, with claims the faster timeframe would be unachieveable and/or too costly.
Treasurer Peter Gutwein on Wednesday released an Infrastructure Tasmania report suggesting it could be achieved.
Treasury said the benefits would occur earlier than under TasWater’s plan.
“As one example, in the case of the Launceston sewer improvement program, the estimated $270 million expenditure is scheduled to be completed in 2025-26 in TasWater’s original plan, with an average expenditure of $30 million per year,” it said.
“In the re-profiled program, this work is completed in 2022-23, resulting in average annual expenditure of $45 million per year.
“This would result in a higher level of employment in the Launceston area over this period, including from the impact on other industries, including local manufacturing.”
