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Defined Terms and Documents Discussion Paper Annexure A Annexure B History of CSELR construction cost increases and completion delays 1. The plans to build CSELR were announced by former Premier Barry O’Farrell and Minister for Transport, Gladys Berejiklian, in Dec 2012. 2. On 17 May 2013 the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Light Rail Project) Order 2013 was gazetted by the Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, to declare the light rail project 'Critical State Significant Infrastructure' under the State and Regional Development State Environmental Planning Policy. 3. In Nov 2013 TfNSW announced the business case details for the project, with an estimated cost of $1.6 billion. TfNSW estimated the CSELR would generate almost $4.0 billion in benefits, a benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.5 (including wider economic benefits). 4. The budget had increased by $549 million to $2.1 billion when TfNSW signed the main works PPP contract in Dec 2014. 5. Major construction of the CSELR started in October 2015. The project experienced significant delays, and by March 2018, financial performance reporting prepared by TfNSW showed that expenditure on construction of the light rail was $213 million behind schedule, and that the project would likely cost $135 million more than budget. 6. In April 2018, the D&C contractor, Acciona Infrastructure Australia, filed a lawsuit in the NSW Supreme Court, alleging that the NSW Government had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct when providing information on how to manage electricity cables on George Street. 7. On 3 June 2019, the Minister for Transport announced that the NSW Government had reached a settlement agreement. The cost to government for the settlement was $576 million, which includes incentive payments ($44 million) and a two year extension to OpCo's licence to operate the light rail (worth $221 million).
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