Cost blowout fears raised

THE $3.3 billion cost of VNI West has been questioned after major State Government infrastructure project blowouts and Victoria’s decision to bail out of the Commonwealth Games.

Northern Victoria MP Gaelle Broad has asked for Energy and Resources Minister Lily d’Ambrosio to provide latest cost projections as Transmission Company Victoria starts contacting landowners in its preferred route corridor.

“Residents across the region have contacted me to raise concerns about this project. Like the Commonwealth Games, the Labor government may be rolling out a plan without first doing their homework on how much it will cost,” Ms Broad told Parliament last week.

“The State Government has promised to generate 95 per cent of electricity from renewable sources and have 6.3 gigawatts of battery storage connected to the grid by 2035.

“The minister has sought to fast track the development of VNI West – a pro- posed new high-capacity overhead transmission line.

“According to news reports, the project is expected to cost $3.25 billion. I trust the State Government’s business case for this project put a cost on the social, environmental, economic and mental health impacts of this project on local communities.”

However, a Government spokesperson said on Monday: “Australian Energy Market Operator is the national transmission planner. In May, AEMO released the Project Assessment Conclusions Report for the VNI-West project, including a detailed assessment of the costs of the project.

“Environmental, social and economic impacts will be assessed as part of the environmental effects statement.”

Ms Broad told Parliament: “There is the cost of declining land values and the loss of prime agricultural land, the cost of lost tourism to the region and the cost to the community that is harder to measure.”

Meanwhile, a proposed community ref- erence group is still to be named by TCV. A spokesperson said: “We have extended the expression of interest period based on feedback from community members that more time would be appreciated.

“TCV is seeking expressions of interest from residents who are active members of their communities in the local government areas of Buloke, Gannawarra, Loddon, Northern Grampians, and Pyrenees.

“A maximum of 20 members will be appointed to the group. We are seeking to establish a diverse panel of current residents, landholders and members of community groups, who will be willing to represent and communicate the interests of the local community in the project area.”

The spokesperson did not say how many expressions of interest had been received for the group that was to have started meeting this month.

“We will hold the first meeting once we have spoken to all the applicants and processed the applications,” the spokesperson said.