ADUSTMENT FUNDING FOR ACT PRISON

Funding has been allocated in the Budget to maintain the value of the original appropriation for the building of the ACT prison, Chief Minister and Attorney General Jon Stanhope said today. 

The original appropriation in 2003 amounted to $110 million in 2003 dollars over three years. At the time of the approval of the project, the Government noted that the appropriation would be subject to normal escalation. These funds were to cover the costs of construction, preliminary site preparation works and the installation of services as well as the provision of professional fees and oversight of the project by Corrective Services.

“Since the original appropriation, as the Government anticipated, costs have been subject to inflation,” Mr Stanhope said. “Some of these costs, notably construction costs, have increased at rates considerably greater than the Consumer Price Index. Hence, the increase in funding of $18.7 million announced today to maintain the purchasing power of the project’s budget. This is consistent with practices interstate, where Treasury agencies advise the escalation factor to be applied to major projects.

“This investment is a further demonstration of the ACT Government’s commitment to building a prison that represents correctional best practice in every aspect of its design and operation.

“The prison, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, must not only comply with the requirements of the ACT Human Rights Act 2004 but extremely high environmental efficiency and sustainability standards.”
 
The prison will be built off the Monaro Highway at Hume. It will cater for up to 374 prisoners, with allowance for future increases in the ACT prisoner population in line with Treasury projections.

The Alexander Maconochie Centre will accommodate male and female sentenced and remand inmates. They will be housed in a mix of conventional cells and self-care cottage accommodation. The prison will have a secure perimeter fence to ensure community safety, but the interior will have a campus-style design. The focus of activities will be on rehabilitation to further enhance community safety by reducing re-offending by former prisoners on release.
Statement ends