Myki card group paid $20m Transport ticket milestone reached

Documents released to the Opposition under freedom of information show the Government's Transport Ticketing Authority paid Kamco $20 million in February.

The Kamco consortium, which is led by US firm Keane and includes two European technology partners as well as Australia's ERG Group, signed a $494 million contract with the Government in 2005. That contract stipulated Kamco would face big fines if the system ran late. Since then, myki has fallen three years behind schedule. But instead of fining Kamco, the Government has amended its contract with the consortium and sped up payments.

The Transport Ticketing Authority, which is overseeing the roll-out of myki, last night confirmed the contract had been amended.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the Government should be punishing Kamco, not rewarding it.

"How many sparkies or plumbers would receive a payment for work in advance if they were three years behind in a major contract?" he said.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the payment followed the completion of a project milestone.

"The payment . . . was because works set out had been achieved," a spokesman for Ms Kosky said. "Unlike the Opposition, the Brumby Government invests in public transport."

Myki was due to begin operation last year. But in May the Government threw an extra $350 million into the project, now due to be installed by 2010. The project will now cost $844 million to install and $550 million to run for a decade.

Tests of the myki system, run on buses in Geelong in April, showed it failed 10% of the time.

Industry sources have told The Age the first public tests of myki, due on Geelong bus line McHarry's in December, may be delayed until next year because of fears that summer crowds passing through Geelong could overwhelm trials of the system.

But a spokesman for the Transport Ticketing Authority said the claims were false. Tests would occur in Geelong in mid-November, spokesman Adrian Darwent said.

"This testing phase will use two groups of customers," Mr Darwent said. "Some will receive directions on ticketing transactions. Others will use the system in the same way they would were they going about their daily business."

Closed testing of the myki system has already started on tram route 86 and at four train stations - East Camberwell, Canterbury, Chatham and Mont Albert.

? Premier John Brumby will convene a transport summit at Telstra Dome on Friday, bringing together transport, urban planning, environment and construction experts.

The summit comes before the release of the Victorian Transport Plan in November.