Article: Springfield on track

[ozbob]

From Courier Mail Courier Mail 2 October 2008  page 59

Springfield on track

Springfield on track
Infrastructure
James McCullough

THE man responsible for the growth of southeast Queensland?s western corridor, Maha Sinnathamby, is looking for private equity money to help complete a rail line to his beloved Springfield.

The State Government has planned to take the rail link from Darra to Richlands by 2011 and on to Springfield by 2015.

However Mr Sinnathamby, forever in a hurry, is trying to secure private funding to help the Government and thereby bring forward the time frame, no easy task in the current financial market environment.

?We are talking to a number of people with a view to getting some private money into the deal to speed up the link,? Mr Sinnathamby said, sitting in his new head office at Education City at Springfield.

He envisages the rail link will open up the entire Ripley Valley, a vital tool given the rapid growth of the region since he turned the first sod to create Springfield 16 years ago.

Mr Sinnathamby, ranked the 10th richest individual in Queensland, worth an estimated $571 million, has not lost his enthusiasm for his vision despite putting in over a decade and a half of work to build his precious city. He points to the new $220 million Data Centre due for completion by the end of this year, explaining that it had bulletproof windows for top security.

?This is a state-of-the-art data centre and we are already getting interest in potential tenants storing information here from all over the world,? he said. ?I would say it is arguably the best data centre in Asia, maybe the world.?

Suncorp is already in the data centre while NEC is another group moving into the centre, its global president visiting Springfield next month to look over the facility. Springfield, Brisbane?s southwestern suburb 28km from the CBD where, according to the spin doctors, a city is in the making that will become the future engine room of the state of Queensland. The growth statistics indicate things are definitely moving in the region.

The suburb has a population of 17,000, compared with 10,000 three years ago, which is conservatively estimated to grow to 80,000 by 21)21), or two-thirds the size of Darwin and 105,000 by 2030. Greater Springfield is 2860ha in area, encompassing six suburbs and, despite global financial uncertainty and gyrating markets, the growth shows no sign of slowing.

[O_128]

good

[mufreight]

The government originally scheduled the line for completion to Springfield by 2010, then 2015 now 2016 with no commitment to continue the line beyond Springfield to Service the Ripley area despite all the spin about 120000 people to be there in that new development by 2020.
Hot air does not provide infrastructure that the government is elected to provide, bear in mind the Kippering saga and that has dragged on for over 100 years.