$1200 a day pipeline welders spark caller’s ire

The caller said the welders were boasting to locals that they were getting $1200 a day joining the 1.7m diameter pipes and he thought that was a significant component of greatly increased costs of building the politically controversial pipeline.
But according to Ken Cameron, a trencher operator who featured in these pages on the Bonaparte gas pipeline last August, $1200 a day is about normal for a very exacting task. He said that if a weld was found to be less than perfect when it was x-rayed, the welding team had to return and fix it up. Not hugely expensive, although if one member of the team was found at fault more than a few times, his job was usually under threat from other members of the welding team.
But Ken made the point that once a pipe was in the ground, found to be faulty, and had to be dug up for repair, the dollars really started to mount. Typically, a benching excavation to get at a fault in a buried pipe, would start at about $100,000. If rock was involved it would be significantly more.
He said one job he was involved with, used poor quality pipe, and the cost of uncovering it and rectifying the faults ran into millions.
So while the 70km North/South pipeline may seem expensive at about $750m, and controversial given that it will be diverting scarce water from northern irrigation districts, Victorian taxpayers can be sure it has been built to the highest standards.
Next pipeline cabs off the rank will be an 83km natural gas pipeline in Western Victoria (see Contracts Let in this issue) and the also controversial about 80km desalinated water pipeline from Wonthaggi in Gippsland to Melbourne, as part of a $3.1bn desalination plant.  
It will be interesting to see which one sparks taxpayer rage about the workers being paid too much.