4. Marco Teórico
4.2. El aprendizaje
4.2.3. Evaluación de los aprendizajes
privatisation should be opposed.'^'' The report also indicates that "it provides a sound
foundation for calling on the Government to meet the capital needs of public enterprises
through an appropriate combination of dividend relief, budget financed injections over
a five year period and relaxation of Loan Council and other borrowing restrictions".'^^
To justify this, the H. V. Evatt Foundation claim that if public enterprises do not have
adequate capital funding and solutions cannot be found, then the broader programme of
building robust and dynamic public enterprises would be jeopardised."® Consequently,
they would argue that if VicRoads was properly funded then they should be in a position
to provide the capital for the City Link project. Opponents would argue, however, that
with the private sector building the City Link it is not costing the Victorian taxpayers
a cent, although Victorian motorists will be asked to pay tolls, ie. "a user pays system".
Financing The City Link Project
As stated earlier in this chapter, the private sector needs to be reassured that the project
has a safe, reliable return with low risk. Consequently, the State Government needs to
ensure a quality revenue stream to ensure investors are willing to participate in
Government infrastructure projects.
For the State Government to estimate a revenue stream for the City Link Project, it
would be beneficial to look at Melbourne's Westgate Bridge and the experience it had
H. V. Evatt Research Centre: "The Capital Funding of Public Enterprise in Australia", Sydney, March, 1988, p(v)
Ibid, p(vi) Ibid, p(xv)
with tolls. Setting tolls on a facility to achieve optimum utilisation and return on
investment, particularly where alternative routes are available, is somewhat risky. The
toll on the Westgate Bridge was removed in November, 1985 and, as a direct result, an
increase of approximately 45% in traffic volume was observed. Since the Westgate
Bridge was completed, the volume of traffic using it has been considerably less than
predicted, in fact, 25% less, based on 1968 predictions.'" Although the usage of the
bridge enjoyed steady growth in its first three years, volume levels were fairly constant
in 1984 and 1985. In August, 1982, a major increase in tolls resulted in a noticeable
decline in volume.
The consistently lower than predicted volume levels using the bridge could be
attributable to a number of factors. These included the slowing down of the economy
and the lack of predicted growth in Melbourne's western suburbs, together with the
inconvenience of the connecting road network to the bridge. However, these reasons
seem msignificant compared to the alternative routes which were improved by
substantial investments in the Charles Grimes Bridge and the upgrading of Footscray
Road, rendering alternative routes very competitive. The presence of a toll (being the
only one in Victoria) seemed to be a major deterrent to traffic using the Bridge. This
was largely evident from the substantial increase in volume after the toll removal.
T h o m p s o n , R.G, and Vincent, E.N.: "Assessing the Traffic and Economic Impacts of the Westgate Bridge Toll Removal", Proceedings 14th A R R B Conference, Part 3, p i 6 8
TABLE ONE A V E R A G E W E E K D A Y TRAFFIC V O L U M E S 65 6 0 55 50 45 40 35 30 25
20
a c t u a l v o l u m e spredicted volumes
TOLL
INCREASE
TOLL
REMOVAL-
l i i l t i l i i l i i i i i l 1111111 i l M l ' i l [ i l ' i i l i i l i i i i i l i i l i i l i i l l i l i i i i i l i i l i i l l l l A J O J A J Q J A J O J A J O J A J O J A J O J A 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1966A v e r a g e W e e k d a y T r a f f i c W e s t g a t e Bridge, all classes 1 9 8 0 - 1 9 8 6
Source: T h o m p s o n , R.G. and Vincent, E.N.: "Assessing liie Traffic and Economic Impacts of the Westgate Bridge Toil Removal", Proceedings H t h A R R B Conference Canberra. Vol. 14, No. 3, Melbourne, 1988, p i 6 9
A n e c o n o m i c a s s e s s m e n t of the toll removal was p e r f o r m e d to i d e n t i f y the overall
c o m m u n i t y c o s t s a n d b e n e f i t s of the toll r e m o v a l . T h e b e n e f i t s of the toll r e m o v a l
g e n e r a l l y c a m e f r o m the r e d u c t i o n in travel distances, travel t i m e of n e w u s e r s o f the
b r i d g e a n d e l i m i n a t i o n of toll collection costs. Other b e n e f i t s such as r e d u c t i o n s in
c o n g e s t i o n a n d p o l l u t i o n on the alternative routes w e r e i d e n t i f i e d , b u t n o a t t e m p t w a s
m a d e to q u a n t i f y t h e m . T h e cost of collecting the toll on the W e s t g a t e B r i d g e w a s