The Airport Link tunnel under construction. Picture: David Kelly Source: The Courier-Mail
FORMER Treasurer Andrew Fraser says the failed Airport Link Tunnel has been a "zinger" of a deal for Queensland taxpayers.
Mr Fraser denied the trouble-plagued tunnel was a disaster.
He said the infrastructure would remain forever and was built under a Public-Private Partnership using only $267 million of taxpayer money.
"It is irrefutable: This was the PPP of a lifetime for the people of Queensland," he said in an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review.
"Far from a disaster and a debacle, this was a zinger of a deal."
He said the major shortcoming with Airport Link was the "heroic traffic forecasts" with BrisConnections predicting traffic significantly higher than the other failed bidders.
"It was one, undoubtedly, of the last big pre-GFC Hail Mary haymakers," he said.
INTO ABYSS: AirportLink tunnel, the latest toll road failure. Picture: Tim Marsden
"When the tender was won in the first half of 2008 the world was still months away from the failure of Lehmann Brothers."
Mr Fraser, who lost his seat at the last state election, said Airport Link would set a new benchmark for PPPs in Australia with governments needing to take on more risk.
BrisConnections - which went into administration last week with debts of more than $3 billion - floated at a $1 issue price in 2008, the first of three instalments.
Macquarie Group and Deutsche Bank were the biggest investors, while the Queensland Investment Corporation had to write off nearly $13 million from its investment.
Droves of unwitting small investors also bought shares in the company when the stock slumped to as low as 0.1c, not realising they would have to stump up the second and third instalments.
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