How to turn a $680M project into a public disaster (in under 6 months)

Published 3 months ago • 1 min read

Sydney.
Early 2000s.
The government wanted less traffic in the CBD.
Private investors wanted 30 years of fat toll revenues.
Everyone thought they had a winner.

The Cross City Tunnel PPP was signed in 2002.

Cost? Around AUD 680 million.
Forecast? 90,000 cars a day.
Reality? Barely 20,000.

And the toll?
$4.50.

Drivers said: I'd rather sit in a traffic jam for free, thanks.

To make it worse, the government had promised to close surface roads to "push" traffic into the tunnel.

As intelligent as high security officials putting journalists in the WhatsApp groups…

Imagine how well that went down with voters.

Within months:

The private consortium sued the government for breach of contract.
The government sued back for misrepresentation.
Drivers sued for unfair closures.
Shareholders sued the board for terrible forecasting.

Everyone suing everyone.

A beautiful mess.

By 2007, the tunnel went bankrupt.
Sold off to a pension fund for cents on the dollar.

Brutal lessons:

Fake traffic forecasts eventually blow up in your face.
You can't bully drivers into using your asset.
Toll prices aren’t a detail — they are life or death.
If the public hates your PPP, it’s already dead.

Moral:
If your project needs lawsuits, road closures, and magic math to work,
it doesn’t work.
It never did.

I have other interesting and horror stories about my last project in the link below.

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The 15 Top Lessons of a PPP Project Nightmare

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The number 1 killer of Projects
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