The State Government will provide an extra $55.6 million to complete Melbourne's ambitious Federation Square project, but has ruled out funding any further budget blow-outs.
The Minister for Major Projects, Peter Batchelor, yesterday confirmed the government would release the extra money in the May budget, bringing the government's total spending on the project to $280 million.
The cost of building Federation Square now stands at $394 million, which includes $64 million from the Melbourne City Council and $50 million in federal funds.
Mr Batchelor stressed that Federation Square Management would have to meet further costs. He said Federation Square Management had assured him the extra $55.6 million would be enough to complete the project.
He blamed Federation Square's increasing costs on the Kennett government's "reckless" contractual arrangements and its failure to cap the budget.
"There is not an end price in the contract, which has been a difficulty all the way through," he said.
But Federation Square Management chief executive Peter Seamer said the project's original estimate of $128 million was always unrealistic. He said that when London firm Lab Architecture and Melbourne's Bates Smart won the international design competition to build Federation Square, the project was valued at $240 million.
He did not expect the complex, which is two years behind schedule, to open until August.
