Deputy Premier Jackie Trad said the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority was required to pay compensation for the value of land and for disturbance.Credit:AAP Image/ Darren England
Over two years,the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority planned to spend $534 million to compensate business owners and buy properties needed for the project,including the GoPrint site,the South Brisbane Dental Hospital and the nine-storeyLandcentre Building.
The fund was also used to buy Albert Street properties,the Brisbane Transit Centre and Hotel Jen at Roma Street.
The Brisbane Transit Centre will be progressively demolished from late 2019 to make way for a new underground station,although theRoma Street bus and train stations will remain open during the five-year construction period.
Hotel Jen stopped trading on December 15.
Earlier this year,Brisbane Times reported that family-run businesses operating on month-by-month leases at the Brisbane Transit Centre wereasking for millions of dollars in compensation.
The delivery authority spent $2 million more than its budget of $51 million in 2017-18,because of some compensation payments being approved earlier than expected to ease the transition for affected businesses.
The delivery authority had so far spent $410 million on buying land this year and expected to spend its full budget of $481 million by June.