PM dismisses concerns as subs site’s huge cost revealed
At least $30 billion will be spent to build a construction site to build nuclear submarines for Australia under the AUKUS agreement.
The federal government announced on Sunday it had pledged a $3.9 billion down payment to secure the future of the Submarine Construction Shipyard in the northern Adelaide suburb of Osborne.
The government hopes the project will create up to 1000 apprentices a year at the on-site training facility, as well as creating 10,000 jobs in design and construction.
The staggering cost of the facility is made clear by the size of its designed footprint.
Enough steel and 710 thousand cubic meters of structural concrete will be used in the construction of the 420-meter-long manufacturing hall, enough for the construction of 17 Eiffel Towers.
The future of AUKUS has remained uncertain for months, ever since the United States announced it would review the terms of the agreement.
However, the prime minister dismissed concerns that the promised shipyard would never see an AUKUS ship.
“This is in the interests of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia,” Anthony Albanese told reporters on Sunday. he said.
The eye-watering price tag comes from an estimate provided by Maritime Infrastructure Australia, the government’s hand-picked company tasked with delivering the AUKUS facility.
In addition to construction, the new shipyard will also include testing and commissioning of submarines.
An estimate of how long it will take to complete the shipyard or whether the $30 billion figure will increase has not been confirmed.
Defense has become a fast-growing sector for South Australia, with the country’s first missile factory recently opening in Port Wakefield.
Osborne currently hosts existing facilities for Collins-class and Hunter-class submarines.
Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas said, “When Holden closed, 1,200 people were working; 4,000 people will be needed to build this facility.”
“It’s hard to truly comprehend the amount of high-paying skilled work that is coming our way for South Australians.”
The announcement of a decades-long infrastructure commitment comes at a good time for the prime minister, with state elections a month away.
A poll on Wednesday showed Labor with a 61-39 lead over the Liberals in the two-party vote.
