This project was always a disaster waiting to happen. It is a terrible project and should never have been contemplated let alone built in the first place. It was not part of any transport plan, although to be fair the State government does not have a plan. It is just a project bowled up to the State government by Transurban, an unsolicited bid designed to strengthened its position as a toll road operator, which the government bought because it helped its image of getting on with the job and would create jobs in the construction industry. The case against it is included in the papers section on this web site and have referred to it in an earlier blog.
Lack of feasibility studies and planning was always problematic and has doomed this project. Like all mega infrastructure projects promoted by the State government today, they are rushed to suit political objectives and tenders are called before the design work is carried out. It is a bit like quoting to build a house when you have no idea what the building will look like or the ground conditions on which it will be built. The risk is huge and must be built into the tender price. Everyone knew or should have known that the ground through which the tunnel was to be bored would be heavily contaminated but this was never properly tested so it is no surprise this has become a serious issue and stalled the project at enormous cost.
Quoting Timna Jacks and Patric Hatch “The Age has confirmed with sources close to the project that the joint building venture, CPB Contractors and John Holland, is claiming the project has blown out by as much as $5.2 billion. The dispute centres on the handling of about 3 million tonnes of soil, with an unknown portion of it believed to be contaminated with perand polyfluoroalkyl chemicals – the potential carcinogens known as PFAS”. “PFAS” is so toxic there is no safe way to dispose it but the State government is trying to have it reclassified as a less toxic chemical and has been struggling to find a site where it can be safely stored.
So who is going to pay for this costly mess? The premier has rightly argued that this was not the government’s project “ Transurban came to the government with this project, they chose the builder so they need to sort it out with the builder”. But will it end up like the East West Link where the government ended up paying more than $1billion to cancel the contract after declaring that it could be cancelled at little or no cost?
Whatever the outcome we the broader community will be the losers. Apart from the waste of public funds on a project we don’t need, the opportunity cost of not investing in projects and programs of real need is huge. But perhaps the greatest cost will be ongoing failure of governance, absence of proper process, lack of integrity and breach of public trust. These issues have been nomalised under this government and we will continue to pay a huge price if they are not addressed.