Western Sydney is already Australia’s third largest economy and, in its own right, would be our fourth largest city. The fourth largest city in Australia should have its own international airport.
That’s what Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said in his address to the Western Sydney Airport Conference recently organised by the NSW and Sydney Business Chambers.
“There is absolutely no doubt this project is a game changer for Western Sydney,’’ he told delegates.
“It will generate billions of dollars in economic activity, create thousands of jobs in construction and tens of thousands of jobs once operational.
“It will provide businesses and local residents with unprecedented access to air travel and freight services.
“I see this airport not as a secondary airport for Sydney. I see it as a primary airport of Western Sydney—not just low cost but also premium.
“By 2060, an airport at Western Sydney has the potential to increase GDP by almost $24 billion, and while most of the benefits will flow to Western Sydney, the project also has major benefits at a state and national level.’’
Mr Truss dismissed speculation that Badgerys Creek airport will be like New York.
“The plan is for a modest airport at first—we could expect the first few years of a Western Sydney airport to be similar to the Gold Coast in terms of passenger numbers. Most of the passengers will come from Western Sydney itself,’’ the minister told the conference.
“For the first 20 years or so, the airport will require one runway and we are planning for it to be around 3.7 kilometres in length—large enough to handle the full range of domestic and international aircraft, including the A380.’’
Over time, as demand requires, a parallel runway will be constructed.
“And after, say 40 years, it could be handling up to 80 million passengers.’’
Construction of the airport alone will create over 4,000 jobs and tens of thousands more jobs in the future.
The second phase of geotechnical works got under recently.
Mr Truss said the geotechnical drilling was an important step.
“The Western Sydney airport will be among the nation’s most impressive civil engineering projects over the next decade.
“The Commonwealth-owned land at Badgerys Creek is a large site of around 1,700 hectares and extensive investigation is required to assist in planning for the first stage of an airport.
“A team of engineers will be at Badgerys Creek to profile the subsoil and rock at several locations.”
More than 100 boreholes of a depth up to 40 metres will be excavated, while earthmoving equipment will dig pits up to five metres deep. Extensive geological surveys to understand rock density will also be completed and analysed by the end of this year.
Construction on the airport is scheduled to start in 2016.
