The mechanical chirp of the e-Tag on the M4 will sound again in the middle of this year after a seven year hiatus and Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle is far from happy about it.
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Motorists are expected to pay up to $4.21 to use the 7.5-kilometre section of road, adding up to more than $2000 each year for a five day commute. But Ms Doyle says the toll should not be re-introduced on the publicly-owned M4 motorway between the Mountains and Sydney, a toll Labor got rid of in 2010 after construction costs for the original build had been paid off.
The toll has been introduced to pay for the upgrade and widening of the M4 to four lanes in each direction from Church Street to Homebush Bay as part of the first stage of WestConnex.
Ms Doyle said under the Liberal government’s plan, rather than simply recouping the costs of the M4 widening, the tolls collected from western Sydney motorists will be paid to a private operator for 40 years.
“The M4 is a public road. The people of NSW own it. For the Liberal government to now levy a toll on our road and hand that money to a private company is basically theft,” said Ms Doyle, who has now signed up for an e-Tag.
“There will be a lot of residents like me who need to get an e-Tag for the first time. Mr Ayres’ business cards might say Minister for WestConnex but he will be remembered by Penrith and Blue Mountains motorists as the Minister for Tollroads,” Ms Doyle said.
The toll will increase by at least four per cent each year, meaning that by the end of the 40-year privatisation period, motorists will have “coughed up more than 10 billion dollars for a widened M4 that only cost $450 million – paid for by taxpayers - to build”, she said.
“When you sit down and crunch the numbers, WestConnex doesn’t add up for taxpayers,” Ms Doyle said. “It’s an absolute dog of a project and a gift from the Liberals to their mates in big business.”
Other Sydney toll-roads had delivered profits of more than $350 million in the six months to December for toll-road operator Transurban, which manages six tolls-roads across Sydney that were all originally built with taxpayers’ funds, she said.
“Since the profits from Sydney’s other privatised motorways, in just the past six months, would be enough to pay for most of this new widening project, you have to ask yourself where the wisdom is in privatising these public assets.”
But Minister for WestConnex Stuart Ayres said residents were tired of congested roads “and, unlike the former Labor government which ignored the issue, this government is getting on with making much-needed improvements”.
“I have stated that from the outset, users can expect to have a benefit if they are to pay a toll. There are no hidden surprises.”
The M4 would continue to be toll free from Lapstone to Parramatta (Church Street) and only new tunnels and widened sections of WestConnex would ever be subject to tolls, he said.
“When complete, WestConnex will direct tens of thousands of trucks and small vehicles off surface roads into underground tunnels which will significantly reduce congestion on key routes like Parramatta and Victoria Roads. There will always be a free alternative for motorists to use as they move around Sydney.”
WestConnex is expected to be completed by 2023.
