The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced in Canberra on Friday a 4.7 billion Australian dollars (3 billion U.S. dollars) nation building plan to combat the global financial crisis, hoping to create 32,000 jobs.
Rudd said the government was focusing on infrastructure because it was a major driver of economic growth and can create jobs.
"This package will deal with critical infrastructure in transport, it deals with rail, it deals with roads, it also deals with education, it also deals with how we support private investment," he told a press conference held in the parliament house at noon.
Rudd said the government will bring forward 711 million dollars in spending in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years to accelerate the commencement of 14 road projects.
According to the ambitious plan, the government would spend 1.2billion dollars on rail infrastructure, the largest single investment in rail in the history of the country.
"This ... effectively brings forward a total of 4.7 billion dollars in the Auslink 11 programs," Rudd said.
He said that investment over two years in the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) was more than the former coalition government invested during its almost 12 years in office.
"We will inject 1.2 billion dollars in new funds into the ARTC," Rudd said, adding the latest injection of funds comes on top of its 10.4 billion Australian dollar economic stimulus package announced last month.
The other component of the plan is a 1.6 billion Australian dollars investment in education. This is made up of 11 specific education research projects and 1 billion Australian dollars will be directed towards the immediate capital needs of universities and colleges to deal with additional teaching and learning.
(1 Australian dollar equals 0.659 U.S. dollar)
Source:Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article