The New South Wales Government has announced plans to refinance State-owned assets, including Port Kembla, in a bid to fund and expedite priority infrastructure projects.

 

“While we have already started the process of releasing funds through the successful long-term lease of the desalination plant, undertaking a scoping study for the long term lease of Port Botany, and the planned sale of the electricity generators announced last month, more needs to be done to free-up vital funds for critical road, school and hospital projects across NSW,” State Treasurer Mike Baird said.

 

Mr Baird said the Government’s scoping study for the long-term lease for Port Botany has revealed strong bidder interest.

 

“The successful lease of the desalination plant demonstrates the strong private sector interest in quality infrastructure assets in NSW and we think that both Port Kembla and Port Botany can deliver significant value for NSW taxpayers,” Mr Baird said.

 

Mr Baird said the additional scoping work on Port Kembla would not delay the Port Botany transaction process. The Government will consider the scoping study recommendations during the first half of 2012, with a view to completing the transaction by mid- 2013.

 

Mr Baird said proceeds from the transaction will be invested in Restart NSW (with 30 per cent of funds reserved for projects in regional areas), while $100 million is earmarked for infrastructure projects in the Illawarra which will be determined by Infrastructure NSW later this year.