Thousands of VIC jobs to be supported by $3bn worth of road projects

Victoria will be seeing a significant boost in jobs as work on various major congestion-busting upgrades are set to get underway early next year as part of a new partnership approach in delivering vital road upgrades across the State. 

From January 2021, early works will kick-start at Childs Road in Mill Park, Fitzsimons Lane in Eltham and Templestowe, Hallam North Road and Heatherton Road in Endeavour Hills, and Lathams Road in Seaford and Carrum Downs. 

The new partnership approach to construction contracts has established a 20-strong panel of pre-qualified contractors to deliver these projects as well as approximately $3 billion worth of future vital road upgrades. 

The panel includes local contractors Ace Infrastructure who will undertake the Childs Road project; BMD Constructions delivering the Fitzsimons Lane upgrade; Symal Infrastructure who will build the Hallam North and Heatherton Road project; and Winslow Infrastructure to deliver the Lathams Road project. 

“The local construction industry is crucial to our economic recovery and that’s why we’re doing everything we can to create jobs and get shovels in the ground as quickly as possible. 

“These vital upgrades to some of our busiest local roads will slash congestion and improve traffic flow for the thousands of drivers who rely on them every day,” Minister for Transport Infrastructure Jacinta Allan said. 

This new approach will get major upgrades progressing faster and easier from paper to pavement which, in turn, will create jobs now and provide greater certainty to local industries into the future. 

Construction on more projects is set to commence next year, with detailed planning already underway for upgrades to Craigieburn Road in Craigieburn, Pound Road West and Frankston-Dandenong Road Bridge in Dandenong South as well as Golf Links Road in Langwarrin South. 

In addition, upgrades to Sunbury Road in Sunbury, Bridge Inn Road in Doreen, Healesville-Koo Wee Rup in Pakenham, Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road in Cranbourne, Epping Road in Epping along with a series of bridge rehabilitations works will follow suit. 

The partnership approach will also be used to fast-track the delivery of other vital road projects including Narre Warren North Road in Narre Warren North, South Road in Bentleigh, Barwon Heads Road in Geelong, and Princes Highway East at Flynn and Kilmany. 

Collectively, these projects are expected to support over 4,500 direct local jobs and up to 11,000 indirect jobs in industries such as manufacturing, freight and tourism. 

“The large pipeline of transport infrastructure projects and their importance to post-COVID economic recovery makes it even more critical for governments and industry to collaborate early in the procurement process. 

“This early engagement with industry is a key recommendation in Roads Australia’s recent Procurement Reform Report. We welcome progress towards a collaborative procurement model that allows governments to get value for their infrastructure investment, while ensuring contractors, consultants and suppliers of all sizes have an opportunity to undertake project work,” Roads Australia CEO Michael Kilgariff said. 

Future projects will be progressively awarded to pre-qualified contractors under this new partnership model, and the projects are going to be awarded based on the builder’s capability, capacity, past performance and ability to deliver value-for-money solutions. 

According to the official media statement: “The move away from public-private partnerships for these projects to this model was developed after extensive industry consultation, gives smaller companies access to more work and helps reduce risks.” 

Source: Premier of Victoria – Media Centre; Mirage News