ARENA TRAIN STATION
The Joondalup Business Association has urged the State Government to loosen the purse strings and spend some of the massive budget surplus on infrastructure in Joondalup.
JBA President Russell Crook said the association was extremely disappointed following the recent announcement that plans for the train station at Arena Joondalup have been scrapped (Joondalup Weekender, 20 Dec 2007).
“This project has been supported by the JBA for many years and was seen as an important part of the infrastructure that connects communities,” Mr Crook said.
“The announcement once again illustrates the folly of governments of the day that scrimp on projects to save money in the short term but ultimately impacts greatly on future generations.
“This project is one of many in our area that have suffered from this syndrome including the Eddystone Avenue bridge, which was eventually completed using Federal funds, and the Shenton Avenue rail tunnel which remains unresolved to this day,” he said.
“The Moore Drive bridge would have also fallen foul of this policy had it not been for community pressure applied during the public consultation period which saw funding committed to construct a double bridge instead of the planned single bridge.
“Some twelve years ago the estimated cost of a special events platform, which was all that was requested at the time, was $250,000. Today we are informed it will cost more than $11 million to construct the station,” Mr Crook said.
“Even on these numbers we feel it would be money well spent on a full blown train station that could be utilised by regular patrons of Arena Joondalup, special events, WAFL football fixtures and… who hasn’t seen the hordes of students from Lake Joondalup Baptist College who have to commute by foot from Joondalup station,” he said.
“The Treasurer has long said that the government will use the budget surplus for infrastructure to benefit communities – so please let’s have some of it for Joondalup,” Mr Crook said