ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY
Step 5: Cost-Benefit Analysis including WEBs -
The traditional variable in the cost-benefit analysis
(e.g. savings in travel time, vehicle operating costs
and accident costs) can still form the basis of the
CBA but the estimate of value-added to the regional
economy can be added to the benefits side of the
equation.
According to the Queensland Department of
Transport and Main Roads (2011), “International
experience suggests that these wider economic
benefits for transport projects add between 10%
and 40% to the conventionally measured benefits”.
However, this relates to urban projects where the
direct benefits measured by conventional means
are significant. In rural and remote areas, the
aggregate of direct user benefits is lower so the
relative significance of the WEBs is greater.
A CASE STUDY – SEALING THE
STRZELECKI TRACK
In early 2018, SC Lennon & Associates prepared a
report on behalf of Regional Development Australia
Far North (RDAFN), the Outback Communities
Authority (OCA) and The Flinders Ranges Council,
which estimates the regional economic benefits
of sealing the Strzelecki Track, a 472-kilometre
unsealed regional road that links the towns of
Lyndhurst to Innamincka in the north east of South
Australia.
The Strzelecki Track is a vital supply link for
major oil and gas facilities in the Cooper Basin
and is an essential transport corridor for outback
communities, tourism and pastoralists. Situated in
the Outback Region, the Strzelecki Track provides
a link from Adelaide into south-western Queensland
via Port Augusta and the towns of Quorn and
Hawker (which is just south of the Ikara-Flinders
Ranges National Park) in The Flinders Ranges
Council area.
Tourism, mining and pastoralism are three
‘key industries’ providing strong prospects for
Outback South Australia’s economic growth and
development based on existing comparative
and competitive advantages and opportunities
to diversify the region’s economic activity. The
assessment of the wider economic benefits of
sealing the Strzelecki Track focussed on these three
key industries.
VOL.11 NO.1 2018 | 17