SAVE THE RAH BACK IS BACK IN BUSINESS

The sleight of hand that transferred the cost of the proposed railways RAH from the State to the Commonwealth has placed the decisionmaking about the project squarely in the lap of whatever government is formed in Canberra.       That means that the influence of the Greens will be crucial.

An article in the Advertiser on 18th August (P16) raised the spectre of the huge cost of remediation of the site following more than 100 years of industrial spillage from abbatoirs, tannery and railways.    Presuming the facts have just come to light it ignored the fact that the Save the RAH Committee before the March election tried to interest anyone in the information provided from the drill cores but no one was willing to respond. 

We know that the contamination is extensive over the whole site, that it extends to a depth of about 10-15m where the clay layer has prevented it from soaking deeper.     The proposed hospital footprint of 2-3Ha means that the volume of soil that has to be removed is millions of cubic metres which not only has to be removed but treated as well.      On the Desalination Plant site about the same size, the cost I am told, is $200million. Is this kind of figure is  part of the $1.7billion hospital pricetag.?      If yes, then why bother when the restoration of the Frome Rd site woulc cost less,   If no, then the Adelaide Oval debacle is cheap by comparison.

Tenderers are seeking cheaper alternatives but any compromise (like one in India where the new hospital was built on a sheet of plastic!) leaves contaminated soil which under the weight of the new building contaminates will be squeezed out onto the clay layer and end up in the Torrens and from there to the coast.

Which brings us to the Federal sphere.    The significant vote for the Greens is claimed as the result of widespread public concern for environmental issues.      Now that the Greens have such a powerful voice in Caanberra will they veto this expensive , unnecessary and polluting development.     Tony Abbott said that a vote for Greens is a vote for Labor.    Is he right?  or will the Greens stand up for their environmental credentials in this matter.   Will the real Greens please stand up