CCF welcomes SE Qld infrastructure plan

The $55bn infrastructure plan and program announced for south east Queensland at the end of April, has been welcomed by the state's CCF branch.

Queensland branch executive director Chris White said, “We strongly support the plan and congratulate the government on its formulation and publication. It will provide some surety for the industry, to enable proper resource planning, both human and physical.

He said one of the big issues is industry's capacity to deliver. “So we have asked government to be involved in conversations about how this plan can actually be implemented. Industry needs to be involved in the implementation as early as possible,” Chris said

Consideration not only needs to be given to ensuring that the workforce is trained to meet the challenge, but also that the civil construction industry has the physical resources to carry out the task, he said.

Sustained certainty

“The South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program 2005-2026 (SEQIPP), does however provide the certainty of sustained public expenditure on infrastructure over the next 20 years, eliminating the peaks and troughs in activity which have traditionally plagued Queensland's civil contractors.”

A number of big ticket projects form part of the multi-billion dollar SEQIPP, which was drawn up by the state government's Office of Urban Management. For example, $870m will be spent on the Ipswich Motorway upgrade and $660m on upgrading the Centenary Highway to two and four lanes. Also in the western corridor, the Toowoomba Bypass will receive $680m between 2009 and 2015.

In Greater Brisbane the largest projects are the already announced North-South Bypass Tunnel ($1.3bn) and the $1.2bn Airport Link. Upgrades to the Gateway Motorway will attract $955m and the Gateway Bridge duplication will receive $520m. Significant spending will also occur on improving major road connections.

On the Gold Coast, work will proceed on Pacific Highway projects including the much delayed $360m Tugun Bypass, the $530m Nerang to Stewart Road and Coomera interchange, as well as seven other main roads.

About $1.2bn will be spent on improving the Bruce Highway over the next 10 years, the lion's share being devoted to additional lanes and improved alignment between Cooroy and Gympie/Curra. At $720m the Sunshine Motorway is another big project over the next 20 years, along with the $800m KTIA Caloundra to Mooloolaba Road, work on which is due to start in 2009.

Major rail projects

Numerous busways and several major rail projects also form part of SEQIPP, including upgrades and extensions to the Gold Coast rail line, the north coast line and, after 2015, construction of the $1bn Gowrie to Grandchester line.

Water provision to south east Queensland's growing population is possibly one of the most urgent infrastructure priorities, and the state government will spend $149m on the Wyaralong Dam and a further $712m on other projects ‹ much of this in the next ten years.

CCF Queensland's Chris White said the federation will seek to ensure that infrastructure work is allocated in “suitably-sized packages” to enable local companies to bid for projects.

Some of the larger projects, such as the Gateway Motorway, will probably not be divided up, but others such as the Nerang to Stewart road could well be split into smaller packages.

“What we'd like to see is the amount of work available to our members being consistent with the expenditure in the plan,” Chris indicated.

The CCF believes that the Building our Future report prepared for the Civil Engineering Construction Alliance (CECA) released in February last year, contributed to the government's determination to address Queensland's infrastructure issues.

More information: www.oum.qld.gov.au/?id=359