The Canberra Liberals have promised to build a 30,000-seat stadium in the city at the Acton waterfront, with construction beginning in their first term of government, should they be elected.

Opposition leader Elizabeth Lee said a city stadium “will bring enormous social, cultural, and economic benefit to the ACT”.

ACT Labor, on the other hand, believes a stadium should be built on its current site, in Bruce, as part of a renewed Australian Institute of Sport precinct. They argue that the West Basin site is unfeasible, as the National Capital Plan does not allow a stadium to be built there.

However, ACT independent Senator David Pocock, the Canberra Business Chamber, and the National Rugby League favour Civic.

A stadium in the city would be more expensive: sports minister Yvette Berry said last month that it would cost almost $3 billion, a figure the Liberals ridicule; Ms Lee said earlier this year that she had been told that it would cost between $500 and $800 million.

Advocates say that a Civic stadium would produce more economic value.

Ms Lee argues that a world-class stadium, close to restaurants, bars, and hotels, would revitalise the city centre and all of Canberra. It would provide modern facilities for local élite sports teams such as the Raiders, Brumbies and Canberra United, and attract international sporting events, state of origin, and world class music and entertainment, significantly boosting tourism, creating jobs, and generating significant economic benefits.

“There is a reason why cities all across Australia and the world build stadiums in the city centre,” Ms Lee said. “The enormous benefits that come with an infrastructure project of this kind in the city have been proven time and time again…

“A new stadium located in the city will signal to the rest of Australia and the world that Canberra is open for business; and open to host world-class events.”

However, ACT Labor criticised the Liberals’ choice of West Basin: a stadium is not permitted on the precinct, which is defined as a Designated Area in the National Capital Plan, with strict land uses, considerable planning controls, and clear building height limits.

“It’s hard to take the Canberra Liberals’ stadium photoshop seriously,” a Labor spokesperson said. “You can’t just plonk a stadium anywhere you think it might fit. … West Basin is not an appropriate location for a structure of that size.”

The spokesperson said the government had “extensively examined locations for a stadium”; feasibility studies had led to the selection of Bruce.

“This is an achievable project that is being properly costed and is located in a precinct [that] is being redeveloped in partnership with the Australian Government,” the spokesperson said.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr last year commissioned a $30,000 feasibility study (the seventh, Ms Lee noted), and this year sought federal co-funding for the project. Labor’s $500 million, 30,000-seat stadium would be built by 2033 – a quarter of a century after the ACT Government first proposed the concept, in 2009, Ms Lee noted.

“The chosen site for the stadium at the Acton Waterfront does not require other buildings to be knocked down or excessive associated works as those put forward by Andrew Barr at other sites across Canberra,” Ms Lee said.

“It is clear the Labor-Greens government has no interest in building a new stadium, and Andrew Barr has strung Canberrans along for over a decade with broken promises and multiple feasibility studies.

“For too long, Canberrans have been let down by a government that has failed time and time again to deliver infrastructure projects for the ACT. It is now abundantly clear that the Canberra Liberals are the only party that will build a new stadium for our city.”

“The Canberra Business Chamber has been calling for a new stadium and convention centre for many years,” CEO Greg Harford said. “Both will support vibrancy and business activity in the nation’s capital. The Chamber is strongly supportive of any moves to accelerate construction of these important facilities accelerated.”

Fiona Carrick, independent candidate for Murrumbidgee, said she would like to see the business case that outlines the benefits and costs of the Acton site compared to the other sites identified.

The Public Transport Association of Canberra called the proposal “short-sighted”, warning that putting the stadium in the city could lead to traffic chaos unless the light rail network is extended across Lake Burley Griffin to serve the new facility.

The Liberals’ proposal “neglects the significant transport needs of this new facility,” PTCBR chair Ryan Hemsley said.

“A stadium of this scale will attract thousands of visitors. Without high-capacity public transport operating on its own dedicated right of way along the full length of Commonwealth Avenue, the Canberra Liberals are setting our city up for traffic chaos.”

Mr Hemsley urged the Canberra Liberals to reconsider their “ideologically-motivated opposition to light rail”, and instead extend light rail to Canberra’s southern suburbs.

The Canberra Liberals have promised to stop light rail at Commonwealth Park, estimating it will cost more than $5 billion, and be an “economic disaster” for the ACT.

The PTCBR continues the work of the ACT Light Rail lobby group.