[+] Mapped: The Mega-Projects Shaping Australia’s Future

For a country as old as Australia, there is often the notion that somehow the landscape stands still, unchanging, outside natural disaster. But the Australian landscape has always been changing, as nature and humans made their marks. Across its modern history, placemaking and nation-building have significantly changed the face and shape of the nation. Such project bring opportunities—for construction, for development, and more. Here, then, are the top mega-projects that will shape Australian into the near future. Roads and rail Delete Interactive map: Australian’s road and rail mega-projects As Australia’s population grows, the demand for transport infrastructure has to keep pace. Settlement and development patterns have historically followed transportation lines—if the people cannot get there, they cannot live or work or shop there, and developers cannot sell or lease there. And as our consumption patterns change, Australia’s ability to move people and goods around effectively has been thrown into stark contrast against the infrastructure of other countries. But it is currently costly to build and develop transport infrastructure—the lack of the very infrastructure we are trying to build plays a role as the expense to transport materials from overseas and a lack of domestic manufacturing pushes costs up. Economic conditions have also helped drive wages up, increasing the cost of labour. The money to build the infrastructure comes out of the taxpayer’s pocket meaning that the more a government needs to spend as costs blow out, the more money needs to be taken from other services that would otherwise be funded in a Budget. And costs are blowing out: Melbourne’s Suburban Rail Loop project is estimated to cost a total of $216.7 billion to build and operate the North and East sections from 2019-2084, according to a Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office report released this year. The 19km North section will cost $132.5 billion while the 26km East section will cost $84.1 billion over that period. Building just the East section will cost $34 billion. The 1700km Inland Rail freight project , sorely needed as we move more to online purchases and delivery across the country, is estimated to cost $31.4 billion. Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel project has also blown out by $2 billion on top of its original $11 billion but is expected to be completed by 2025 with two of the five stations already completed. Its Airport Rail project , estimated to cost $13 billion, has also ground to a halt as mediation continues between the Victorian Government and Melbourne Airport about whether the station should be above or below ground. The Sydney Metro Rail project to deliver 113km of new metro rail has now blown out to $18.5 billion from its previously estimated $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion. Road projects are also under way with 133km of roads built as part of the WestConnex project to connect the Sydney airport, port and CBD with Western and South West Sydney, costing $16.8 billion. Upgrading the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to Cairns to benefit 58 per cent of Queensland’s population will cost about $13 billion for 1700km of road. Meanwhile, cost hikes have caused John Holland and CPB Contractors to pause works on Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel project and sue the Victorian Government with the initial costs estimated at $6.7 billion. Other projects include Victoria’s North East Link ($3.3 billion), Sunshine Coast Rail ($1.15 billion) and Perth’s METRONET system upgrades ($1.4 billion) with the entire METRONET project costing $10.5 billion across 72km of rail and 18 stations. Trunk and port infrastructure Delete Interactive map: Australian’s trunk and port mega-projects Population growth has led to demand for housing in areas in desperate need of adequate trunk infrastructure prior to residential development proceeding. Peri-urban and regional councils often cannot cope with the cost of providing such trunk infrastructure, and neither can developers. The situation becomes more acute as new areas are opened up for residential development and new communities form. Meanwhile, demand for services also increases in already established settlements and changing values and a climate crisis have now meant a shift in how Australia’s population finds its water and energy. When he assumed power in 2022, South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas promised that the South Australian Northern Water Pipeline would go ahead. The project aims to take pressure off existing water infrastructure and to supply water for regional communities as well as large energy and mining projects. It will run for 600km up to Olympic Dam and other townships overseen by BHP, and incorporate a 260ML desalination plant at Cape Hardy. BHP and other private companies will be funding partners with the SA government, with an initial $200 million to $300 million put forward for early investigations and a completion date for the project of 2028. Developers Genex has joined Japan’s J-Power to develop one of Australia’s largest photovoltaic sites, at the Bulli Creek Solar Project in Queensland, which will provide 2gW. PCL Construction has completed the first stage with Arup announced as engineers and a completion date for the entire project of 2026. Also in Queensland, Fortescue Energy’s Gladstone Electrolyser Facility and PEM50 project will establish Gladstone as a renewable energy hub. PEM50 will provide 50mW year when completed with the facility providing electrolysers, a technology for producing low-emission hydrogen from electricity. The entire project is said to have cost $1 billion with completion slated for PEM50’s first stage in 2025 and then in 2028. Further west is the infamous Sun Cable project at Powell Creek in the Northern Territory. After Sun Cable went into voluntary administration, Michael Cannon-Brookes’ Grok Ventures purchased the company and plans to continue the Australian ASEAN Power Link project to set up a solar project and then transmission cables to Darwin 600km away and Singapore 4300km away. The project when fully complete will provide 17-20gW of energy with some of that energy going to Darwin and the rest to Singapore. In Western Sydney, the new Nancy Bird-Walton Airport will cost $11 billion and be completed by 2026. Further north in Queensland, about $429 million has been spent on redeveloping the Cairns Marine Precinct to service an increased demand for tourism, fishing, shipping and defence capabilities. In the West, the WA and the federal governments have chipped in a total of $544 million for constructing Lumsden Point at Port Hedland. In 2022, Port Hedland marked the biggest port project globally with BHP working on developing and improving it to allow for easier resource transportation. New precincts and communities Delete Interactive map: Australian’s precincts mega-projects Across the country, new precincts and communities are being created as demand grows for housing and services. Sometimes, as in the case of Aerotropolis in NSW, the demand is big enough for a state government to consider creating a whole new capital city. Aerotropolis, along with Parramatta and Sydney, will function as part of a trio of major cities with work under way to build the Western Sydney Airport, set up transport networks and corridors and develop whole new areas into suburbs with new and infill housing around it. The Aerotropolis Precinct Plan and the Bradfield City Masterplan have been created to help drive development in the area and are currently being finalised or exhibited for consultation. However, the largest health precinct in Australia is located in Melbourne in the Parkville Biomedical Precinct . The Victorian government is spending $6 billion over 12 years to redevelop and expand the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Royal Women’s Hospital with 1800 new beds provided and a new biomedical precinct in Arden. Arden and Parkville will be connected to each other by the Metro Tunnel project. Construction is slated to start in 2025 once the Metro Tunnel is completed and is expected to last six years until 2031. Another $1.7 billion is also being spent to create the country’s largest arts precinct in Melbourne with the transformation of the Melbourne Arts Precinct. The precinct extends from Federation Square to Southbank and takes in the banks of the Yarra River. It includes work started on the Arts Centre in 2023 and the Greenline Project to transform the northern bank of the Yarra River. There will be 18,000sq m of new green open space and a new gallery, The Fox: NGV Contemporary space. In Queensland, the City of Greater Springfield, has come out on top as the country’s largest masterplanned city at 2860ha. Springfield City Group, Lendlease and Mirvac developed the city at a cost of $32 billion. You are currently experiencing The Urban Developer Plus (TUD+), our premium membership for property professionals. Click here to learn more.

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