Business frustrated over SA's slow pace

[AG]

Business frustrated over SA's slow pace
By CRAIG BILDSTIEN
30sep05
THE body charged with driving economic development says it has to "continually challenge" government departments and agencies to encourage business to develop major projects in South Australia.

Economic Development Board member Andrew Fletcher told a summit in Adelaide yesterday that "progress in achieving outcomes can be frustratingly slow".

"We are constantly challenging the Government on how things are done and how they can be done faster," the SA Property Council chief said.

"There is a culture that we are trying to shake up a bit.

"Past experience in SA is that we have had plan after plan after plan . . . all excellent, but they're on the shelf and nothing has happened.

"The Infrastructure Plan is not just about planning, it is about doing . . . we are not prepared to invest a lot of time in preparing a plan for such a critical area, only to walk away and let others do the real work of implementation."

Mr Fletcher said the influence of EDB chairman Robert de Crespigny and Social Inclusion Board chairman David Cappo over Cabinet was "helping to change the way the Government does things".

But there remained "a general frustration" that government in general did not understand the constraints and drivers of business. Planning SA and the Environment Protection Authority received the most criticism during a recent round of EDB industry consultations.

Mr Fletcher chairs a major projects group, which meets fortnightly, to try to fast-track major projects.

One key issue of concern was probity, which he said was resulting in the "untimely and inefficient delivery of major projects".

Earlier, Infrastructure Minister Patrick Conlon told the summit the Government was "deadly serious" about attracting investment.

"We are better, sharper and more focused than some of the lazy, easygoing guys in the eastern states," he said. "The country is awash with money for investment, and we need to create a better pathway to guide it into our infrastructure."

One major national developer told The Advertiser yesterday it had invested $220 million offshore because it could not find sufficient local infrastructure projects.

[Algernon]

Business frustrated over SA's slow pace
By CRAIG BILDSTIEN
30sep05
THE body charged with driving economic development says it has to "continually challenge" government departments

Sell them off and they'll challenge themselves!

[Will]

I agree with the article. It is frustrating to see how some major projects can take years just to take off. The problem with SA is that governments are obssessed with wasting money on consultants and useless public consultations which only complicates things and leads to changes to the development which once again has to be scrutinised by public opinion. Examples include the Britannia roundabout, and the city's trains, which according to a book I have been reading were meant to have been replaced with electronic ones in the 1970's.

[AG]

I think you mean electric trains (or EMUs), Will. I heard that electrification was also proposed in the 1950s, and we instead ended up with the Red Hens. We tried again sometime in the 1970s IIRC and we ended up with the 2000 class railcars (or the Jumbos) instead. Now electrification has been proposed again in recent weeks.

The rail system was declining until a few years ago. Now it's only just beginning to expand and grow again with Mawson Lakes and Oaklands stations. I have my rail system proposal somewhere, so I'll post it later when I find it.

[AG]

Here it is. I'll make a newer, better version when I can be stuffed:



Edit: Better version.



Larger: http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sra ... g.orig.jpg

[Al]

Why was there no lines running into the eastern suburbs?

[AtD]

Because people who own BMWs don't take public transport?

[AG]

Why was there no lines running into the eastern suburbs?

There is simply no space on the ground in the eastern suburbs to build one without demolishing hundreds of buildings. Building one below ground wouldn't be viable nor would an elevated rail corridor.

[JAKJ]

A subway running East-West from the Airport, through the city and down the parade would be good .. but I doubt that would ever happen

[lindsay]

The first and foremost boost to economies is a fast, safe and efficient urban transport sector. This is most evident in relation to our cities where the majority of Australians work.Old governments with old ideas continue to push populist notions that were once leading edge during the horse drawn era. What is worse, they waste big money on "transport experts" with a vested interest in maintaining old established systems.

The average Australian cabbie could probably tell us all we need to know and do to get a better people transport system, for less cost and inconvenience than what we are currently being served.

Transport that requires you to travel, at a time not of your choosing, to a pick up point where you follow a set route, not of your choice and then forces you to walk to where you are going may be safe but it is not fast and not effective. More-over, where there are tram or railway tracks going through cities, it is a waste of valuable real estate and the cause significant traffic delays at intersections for the vast majority of commuters.

The current city bus and train systems with their massive infrastructure and even bigger overheads are a waste of resources, at a time when more common sense alternatives are available.

At a time when global communications systems allow the instant tracking and transport of goods intra-city door to door for a very low cost, why must people be slaves to an old and now ineffective method of transport?

Small gas or electric commuter people movers, using GPS monitored instant mobile communication systems that pick you up at a time and place of your choice, calculate the best route for any given conditions and time of day, are cheaper, with less noise and air pollution, take up considerably less room, probably safer and cost a fraction to maintain.

For people without personal communications like landline phones, mobiles or internet, their closest public phone box can serve as the collection point.

See link to thread on this subject in discussion http://forums.rewards-club.com/showthread.php?t=150

[Tom]

Just thought I'd mention that the first proposal to convert our railways to electric was as early as 1909.... yay! soon we can have a centenary of proposals celebration

[Tom]

Why was there no lines running into the eastern suburbs?

Because our railways weren't built for city comuteing all railways in adelaide were to do with industry. People moving was mostly just a secondary reason for building a railway.

[JAKJ]

Why was there no lines running into the eastern suburbs?

Because our railways weren't built for city comuteing all railways in adelaide were to do with industry. People moving was mostly just a secondary reason for building a railway.

There was also a Tram System going East....