Melbourne's lost Link

MELBOURNE'S LOST LINK

* Labor leader Daniel Andrews promises in opposition not a cent of compensation will be paid to tear up the contract for the East West Link

* He wins government and starts negotiations with builders to axe the $6.8b project

* Victoria pays $339m to get out of the contract, and another $81m to take over the $3b loan the builders took out

* The 2014-15 budget identifies $220m in already incurred costs, including geotechnical and design work

* That didn't include more than $200m in land acquisitions, which Victoria still owns and is counting as an asset

* The cost of swapping the interest rate from a variable to fixed sits at $217m, with the potential to go up or down

* Another $4m in costs involved with the swap facility

* Total cost of not building the road: $641m, not including that $220m Victoria had already spent to get the project ready.

SOURCE: Victorian government