Defence talks cloud Moorebank go-ahead

By Rob McKay

The Federal Government would not be drawn on when the talks would be finalised so work could begin.
“Our commitment was to deliver intermodal over the lifetime of the nation building program, which runs from the middle of last year to 2013/14,” a spokesman for infrastructure and transport minister Anthony Albanese said.
“This is a long-term infrastructure project.
“There are issues to be worked out [about] how the site will be developed and the future of [the] Defence [department] there.”
Defence owns much of the 200 ha site which makes up the Moorebank precinct where the School of Military Engineering is situated.
Property firm Stockland has 83 ha of the precinct but Defence has a lease through its Storage and Distribution Centre, which covers 29% that parcel.
The lease expires in 2013/14.
Meanwhile, the Sydney Intermodal Terminal Alliance, comprising Stockland, Kaplan Funds Management and Queensland Rail, is also waiting for the Southern Sydney Freight Line to Port Botany to be built so Kaplan's Qube Logistics can start operations at Moorebank.
Kaplan Funds advisory committee chairman Chris Corrigan unveiled Qube at the start of the month as a rebadge when announcing that Kaplan Funds Management had bought its investment company, Kaplan Equity Ltd.
“It is currently intended to internalise the management of the fund within 12-24 months, once further progress has been made consolidating the fund’s ownership of its existing logistics businesses and advancing the development of Moorebank into a major inland rail terminal,” Kaplan said.
In November, the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) said the dedicated freight line had hit a number of design hurdles although work would continue at a slower pace.
A shortage of engineers to complete signal design and modifications meant the signal changes may now not be completed until early 2011, compared with the previous deadline of mid-2010, ARTC had said.
When completed, the Southern Sydney Freight Line will provide a 36 km dedicated freight line connecting Macarthur to Sefton.

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