nsw tcard company $74m in debt: inquiry

NSW Tcard company $74m in debt: inquiry
November 18, 2009 - 1:44PM

AAP

The company responsible for rolling out Sydney's troubled Tcard system is $74 million in debt, a NSW parliamentary budget estimates committee has been told.

The Public Transport Ticketing Corporation (PTTC), responsible for the introduction of the integrated ticketing system for Sydney, has also spent more than $5 million on legal fees in the past 12 months, the committee was told on Wednesday.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Gladys Berejiklian says the Tcard project has now cost the state government more than $100 million.

"How can an organisation that can't even run itself expect to deliver the Tcard project, which is already now 13 years late," she told reporters.

"The legal costs should be explained, taxpayers and commuters deserve to know why the government is spending so many tens of thousands of dollars every week."

The system was supposed to be in place before the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and is not due for completion until at least 2013.

Meanwhile, Transport and Infrastructure director general Les Wielinga would not guarantee the controversial CBD Metro would even be built.

He told the hearing it was "the responsibility of government" to set the public transport policy, and his duty to roll it out.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees has vowed to press ahead with the project, while the opposition says other Sydney rail projects deserve greater funding priority.