A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region

A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region
53 RTA (2009). Annual report.
The New South Wales Roadside Environmental Committee was formed in 1994 to
encourage better management of the roadside environment. It currently comprises
11 organizations, including RTA.
Private Sector Participation and Procurement
Procurement
RTA uses tender procedures to contract private parties for works and services. The
procedure’s current opportunities are published on the RTA website. Activities that are
outsourced include, amongst others:
Maintenance works (routine and periodic);
Design and construction;
Site supervision;
Traffic Management Center activities; and
Supply, implementation and maintenance of data center processing and communication
services, surveying (travel time).
Public Private Partnerships
PPP activity in Australia has occurred primarily as a state affair. Like other states (Victoria
and Queensland), NSW has used highway PPP arrangements almost exclusively to facilitate
the development of major segments of highway infrastructure in its major urban center,
Sydney.
In NSW, RTA has oversight of its highway system as well as its PPP program. It entered
into its first arrangement via an unsolicited proposal for the Sydney Harbor Tunnel, which
opened for service in August 1992. Subsequently, the state has used seven additional PPP
contracts to complete the orbital (perimeter or ring road) around Sydney, the most recent
being three projects delivered in a five-year period: the Cross City Tunnel, the M7 Motorway,
and the Lane Cove Tunnel.
While governments may propose either a lump sum or an annual contribution to the
contractor in their request for proposals, respondents (bidders) have typically proposed the
elimination or reduction of these contributions by government in their proposals. In NSW,
the government now typically specifies the initial toll rate and uses indexing techniques for
escalation.
The agreements with the concession holders have been signed to finance, design, construct,
operate and maintain the infrastructure. Under the terms of the Project Deeds, ‘ownership’
of the infrastructure will revert to the RTA either after a fixed period or, in some cases, on
the earlier achievement of specified financial returns outlined in the Deed or a fixed period
from the commencement date. The periods vary per contract between 25 and 48 years.
Audit and Control
Financial Audits
An independent assessment of risks and compliance with policies, procedures and Treasury
guidelines is conducted yearly. An ongoing review and update of financial policies and
procedures is conducted to ensure that RTA has a robust financial management framework
to mitigate risk and, eventually, to support RTA’s statutory and business requirements. In
2008-09, one of the initiatives was to develop a dedicated management system to track the
financial aspects of PPPs over the full span of each contract.
The Auditor-General yearly performs an independent audit and provides
recommendations for improvement. The 2006 audit recognized that “the RTA has done
well to recognize the importance of measuring structural condition and progressively
improve its methods to do so” 53 .
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