Mike Baird's challenge to NSW voters: back my power plan or 'not a cent will be spent'

Premier Mike Baird has launched a major plank of his re-election platform with a promise to build billions of dollars worth of road, rail and other infrastructure in the next decade - but only if voters back his plan to privatise NSW electricity assets.

Unveiling a plan he says would be funded by the anticipated $20 billion proceeds from leasing 49 per cent of the electricity "poles and wires", Mr Baird declared NSW to be at "crossroads" when it comes to solving Sydney's congestion issues.

Rebuilding NSW will "take this city and state to a great place": Mike Baird. Photo: Edwina Pickles

He said his plan, titled Rebuilding NSW, would "takes this city and state to a great place".

But Opposition Leader John Robertson said Mr Baird's announcement "doesn't pass the believability test" and was "a desperate attempt by this Premier to promise everybody everything just to get this dud [electricity] deal over the line".

Labor and the union movement oppose the partial sale of the poles and wires, warning it will result in electricity price rises, job cuts and billions of dollars of dividends lost to the state.

Plan "doesn't believe the believability test": John Robertson. Photo: James Alcock

Mr Baird warned that Mr Robertson's opposition meant the infrastructure plan was contingent on the Coalition winning next year's election: "Because if we don't win, not a cent will be spent."

The largest single piece of expenditure in the infrastructure package is $7 billion to fund the previously announced second Sydney Harbour rail crossing and rapid transit line.

The government says this means the project would be fully funded when combined with $3.4 billion allocated in the last budget.

Projects have been "rigorously reviewed": Graham Bradley. Photo: Nic Walker

Construction of the crossing, which will link the north-west rail link in the north and the Bankstown Line in the south, will start in 2017, the government said.

But as flagged by Fairfax Media, the new plan's centrepiece is a third Sydney Harbour crossing dubbed the "Western Harbour Tunnel", running from Rozelle to northern Sydney, near the connection between the M2 Motorway and the Warringah Freeway.

However, no price tag has yet been place on the tunnel. The government says construction will begin in seven or eight years and it will be completed towards the end of the next decade.

Nor has the funding for the project been provided in the plan, which sets aside only $1.1 billion to "invest" in the tunnel and two previously announced north and south extensions of the planned WestConnex motorway between Auburn and Mascot.

The WestConnex extensions and the tunnel are expected to cost about $6 billion in total. They are likely to be tolled and built by the private sector.

Elsewhere, the government has proposed spending a further $1.3 billion on projects to combat city road congestion and $4.1 billion extra for regional transport.

The package also includes a promise of $1 billion for a light rail line around Parramatta, though the route for that line has not yet been chosen.

An extra $600 million was promised on Tuesday in addition to $400 million allocated in the July budget.

Another $1 billion is set aside for an unspecified series of works to upgrade the capacity of Sydney's western rail line and $300 million for rapid bus transit and bus priority projects.

There is also $2 billion promised for schools and hospitals and a $1.2 billion sport and cultural fund.

The sport and cultural fund contains $600 million to create new cultural precincts in the Sydney CBD and Parramatta.

Priority will be given to infrastructure upgrades of the Sydney Opera House, Art Gallery of NSW and Walsh Bay Arts precinct.

Another $600 million has been promised for sports stadiums, including about $300 million to upgrade Allianz Stadium at Moore Park.

Mr Baird's announcement is the government's response to an updated 20-year state infrastructure strategy undertaken by its infrastructure adviser, Infrastructure NSW.

The government asked Infrastructure NSW to update the strategy in light of the anticipated $20 billion that would flow from the electricity transaction, for which it will seek a mandate at the election on March 28 next year.

Infrastructure NSW chairman Graham Bradley said his organisation had considered how the money would best be applied to "make the state more efficient, competitive and productive and and, of course, to make the state's communities better connected and move liveable".

He said the recommended projects had been "rigorously reviewed" by Infrastructure NSW.

Many projects in the report were "still at early stages of business case development" but had been judged to have "strong strategic merit" based on cost-benefit assessments.

"Detailed planning and business case preparation must now be undertaken over the next 12 to 18 months before firm expenditure commitments are made," he said.

This pushes the business case for the projects announced by Mr Baird to well beyond next year's election.

Challenged on the lack of detail around many of the funding proposals, Mr Baird said more would be provided during the election campaign.