THAT was the message from Hills mayor Peter Dimbrowsky to the state government last week after speculation that a $10 billion funding package for the M4 East was about to be announced and it had failed to get funding to build the rail link from the federal government's National Infrastructure Priority Fund.
``There is talk that the government is ready to announce the $10 billion M4 East, following the discovery of Treasury documents, and I put it to the Premier if these funds are available then why are they not being spent on North West Rail,'' Cr Dimbrowsky said.
``Hold back on the secret announcements about M4 and M5 projects and really do something impressive for the people of Sydney by building the shovel-ready North West Rail Link and building it now.''
Cr Dimbrowsky said the Treasury documents allegedly revealed the government had allocated $364 million more to forward estimates for the M4 East project.
``If there is any money in the kitty for transport infrastructure I call on the Premier to spend it on the people of the north-west,'' he said.
``We are ready to accommodate another 100,000 residents and create 47,000 new jobs in the next 20 years. We have our land use strategy in place. We have our residential direction ready. We have our transport direction in place and we have our employment planning in place. The only missing link is the North West Rail Link. A smart government would want to prioritise this and build it now.''
He warned that the council was tired of waiting for the state government to find funding for project and would consider applying directly to the federal government for the money.
``It is a disaster that the North West Rail Link has not been allocated funds,'' he said after details of the recipients were released recently.
``The state government has failed to put any effort into getting this up the list for funding.
``We think that with a little bit more work from the state government directing resources to make this a ready-to-go project we would be eligible for this funding.
``However, we are relying on the state to make this submission for us and, once again, they have totally missed the mark.''
``If the state government cannot get this project shovel-ready, then perhaps it's time local government needs to get the preparatory materials to make a submission ourselves to Infrastructure Australia to move this much-needed project forward.
``The people of north-west Sydney have their shovels ready, Madam Premier.''
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