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SEQ CITY DEAL TO DELIVER $1.8 BILLION IN INFRASTRUCTURE

Details of the South East Queensland (SEQ) City Deal have finally been agreed upon between the Federal and the Queensland Governments and the Council of Mayors SEQ making a joint commitment to deliver infrastructure that will transform the region.

The commitment will fund a suite of 31 projects across the South East Queensland region. It encompasses 11 local governments represented by the Council of Mayors, populated by 3.8 million people and which collectively boast a GDP of $170 billion.

The SEQ City Deal will be funded through $667.77 million from the Commonwealth, $618.78 million from the Queensland Government and $501.62 million from the Council of Mayors SEQ, representing the region’s council, plus $75 million from industry.

Signed on March 21, the SEQ City Deal is more than just a financial commitment. It’s a statement of intent around priorities in the region over the next few decades. It strongly focuses on transport, jobs and liveability and also underpins the Federal Government’s financial commitment to the Olympic Games 2032.

Importantly, the deal doesn’t just favour the big cities, with outlying centres such as Caboolture, Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba included.

In the SEQ City Deal there is $500,000 dedicated to a regional waste management strategy and $105 million for resource recovery infrastructure.

Within Brisbane, the biggest beneficiary will be Brisbane City Council’s Woolloongabba Metro station, which will link with Cross River Rail and be a vital connection during the Olympics, with $450 million allocated to the project. The nearby Gabba stadium has been proposed as Brisbane’s main Olympic stadium.

The SEQ Liveability Fund is another key beneficiary, with $285 million earmarked for the Fund to deliver projects of social and economic priority for the councils.

Other key projects under the deal include $150 million for the SEQ Innovation Economy Fund to support capital projects that promote and grow the region’s innovation economy and $70 million for digital connectivity projects to support place-based telecommunications infrastructure and improved digital connectivity.

The commitment will fund a suite of 31 projects across the South East Queensland region.

SHORTLISTED COMPANIES TO TENDER FOR M1 EXTENSION

The Federal Government has announced a shortlist of companies invited to tender for construction of the M1 Pacific Motorway Extension to Raymond Terrace in New South Wales’ Hunter Region.

The project aims to improve the connection between Newcastle and the New England Highway, M1 Motorway and the Pacific Highway, benefitting nearly 50,000 motorists who travel the route every day.

The M1 Pacific Motorway Extension project is being built under two collaborative design and construction contracts.

For the southern, 10-kilometre Black Hill to Tomago section, CPB Contractors, Acciona Infrastructure Australia, and the John Holland/ Gamuda (Australia) Branch Joint Venture have been selected to take part in the tender process.

For the northern, five-kilometre Heatherbrae Bypass section, Seymour Whyte Constructions and BMD Constructions have been selected to take part in the tender process.

Both contracts are expected to be awarded by the end of 2022.

Registrations of Interest are also being called from pre-qualified contractors to widen Hexham Straight as part of M1 extension. Transport for NSW will deliver the project through an alliance contract.

Transport for NSW will develop a shortlist of tenderers through the Registrations of Interest, and work with these parties to consider proposals by industry. Successful contractors are expected to be announced later this year.

The 15-kilometre M1 Pacific Motorway Extension includes a four-lane divided motorway with two lanes in each direction and new interchanges at Black Hill, Tarro, Tomago and Raymond Terrace.

It will improve the connection between Newcastle and the New England Highway, M1 Motorway and the Pacific Highway, enhancing safety and traffic flow for the 50,000 motorists who travel the route every day.

The Federal Government has committed $1.68 billion towards the extension of the M1 Pacific Motorway to Raymond Terrace and the Hexham Straight Widening, following the announcement of additional funding ($80 million) in January this year.

The New South Wales Government has committed the remaining $420 million to the $2.1 billion project.

The project is expected to support around 2700 jobs during construction.

FEDERAL FUNDING LOCKED IN FOR URANNAH DAM

EASTERN STATES COLLABORATE FOR LANDMARK HYDROGEN REFUELLING NETWORK

The proposed 970-gigalitre dam could unlock 103-gigalitres of water.

The Federal Government has locked in $483 million to build the Urannah dam and hydro-electric scheme in the Broken River Valley in Central Queensland.

The announcement comes more than four decades after Urannah dam, 80 kilometres north-west of Mackay, was identified as a potential water source that would provide water security for agriculture, industry and mines in the region.

The proposed 970-gigalitre dam and approximately 200-kilometre pipeline network could unlock 103-gigalitres of water, enabling local producers to develop up to 20,000 hectares of irrigated agriculture.

The water distribution network includes in-stream distribution in the Bowen and Broken Rivers to the Bowen River Weir, a new 66-kilometre pipeline north to the Peter Faust dam, a new 17-kilometre pipeline south east to the Eungella Dam and a 150 km pipeline south to Moranbah.

The project could create up to 1200 jobs during construction and support 650 ongoing positions.

The Queensland Government had supported the project, but is yet to commit any funding, while the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has not been assessed by the state government yet.

The Queensland state government has previously made an application for funding on behalf of the Bowen River Utilities in June 2021. A bilateral agreement signed between the Queensland and Federal Governments in February this year enabled the Bowen River Utilities to progress its business case and other early investigations into the project.

The business case is underway and is expected to be completed later this year.

Australia’s first renewable hydrogen refuelling network will be built along the nation’s busiest freight route, thanks to tri-state collaboration between Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland governments.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the states have agreed to collaborate on the development of the east coast hydrogen refuelling network that includes the nation’s most critical roads and highways.

The Victorian and NSW Governments are investing $10 million each in grant funding to co-deliver the Hume Hydrogen Highway (HHH) program, which will support the development of hydrogen refuelling stations along the Hume highway – including at least four stations in Victoria. The $20 million funding will also provide grants for approximately 25 hydrogen-powered long-haul heavy freight vehicles to adopt zero-emission technology, such as fuel cells.

The Victorian, NSW and Queensland Governments will collaborate on the development of the renewable hydrogen highway by 2026, focusing on the Hume Highway, the Pacific Highway and the Newell Highway.

The MOU follows an announcement of a renewable hydrogen plant being developed in Queensland’s Western Downs. The demonstration plant and refuelling facility has received a $28.9 million investment from the Queensland Government and will have capacity to produce 50,000 kilograms of renewable hydrogen each year when operational in 2023.

Transport is one of Australia’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 25 per cent of Victoria’s total carbon footprint.

Renewable hydrogen shows strong potential to be cost competitive with diesel – which currently powers most of Australia’s freight industry.

Further details about the initiative will be provided in the coming months.

Applications are expected to open around mid-2022.

Transport is one of Australia’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

CONSORTIUM AWARDED $5B INLAND RAIL CONTRACT

ECHUCA-MOAMA BRIDGE PROJECT OPENS TO TRAFFIC

The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) has appointed Regionerate Rail – a consortium comprising Plenary Group, Clough, GS Engineering and Construction, Webuild and Service Stream – as preferred bidder for the development of the Gowrie to Kagaru section of Inland Rail.

The contract is worth more than $5 billion for the design and construct elements.

The section between Gowrie and Kagaru will be approximately 128 kilometres of new and upgraded rail track through the most geographically challenging section of the 1700-kilometre rail line between Brisbane in Queensland and Melbourne in Victoria. It will include a 6.2-kilometre tunnel through the Great Dividing Range, the largest diameter freight tunnel in the southern hemisphere.

Being delivered as a public-private partnership (PPP), the contract will also include a 25-year maintenance phase after the completion of the section between Gowrie to Kagaru.

The Inland Rial project is Australia’s largest freight rail infrastructure project and will consist of over 1,700 kilometres of rail connecting Melbourne and Brisbane via regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

The Rail Corridor Program will deliver works with an estimated value of more than $300 million, providing work for an estimated 600 people who will lay 1.7 million tonnes of ballast and 80,000 tonnes of steel rail, and install nearly 950,000 Australian made concrete sleepers.

The Inland Rail project is Australia’s largest freight rail infrastructure project.

The new Echuca-Moama Bridge Project has opened to traffic, creating a second Murray River crossing between Victoria and New South Wales after 140 years.

The existing Murray River iron bridge was completed in December 1878 and was the first to span the Murray River. A rail bridge was later constructed over the river in 1989.

The new bridge project links the Murray Valley Highway and Warren Street at Echuca, Victoria with the Cobb Highway at Perricoota Road in Moama, New South Wales. Apart from creating a safer passage for traffic, it also provides a separate 4.9-kilometre bridge for pedestrian and cyclists.

The project consists of two river bridges, one over the Murray River and another over the Campaspe River in Echuca. The new Murray River crossing will be known as Dhungala Bridge and the new Campaspe River crossing will be called Yakoa Bridge – with Dhungala and Yakoa the respective names in Yorta Yorta language for the Murray and Campaspe rivers.

Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Moama Local Aboriginal Land Council and Cummeragunja Local Aboriginal Land Council collaborated to name the Dhungala Bridge with Yorta Yorta Nation endorsing the name for the new Campaspe River crossing.

It’s expected 10,000 vehicles will use the new river crossing every day, reducing traffic on the existing Murray River bridge by about 40 per cent – a reduction that will considerably ease peak hour congestion for people travelling between Echuca and Moama.

Construction for the Echuca-Moama Bridge Project started in late 2017 with the Australian Government contributing $125.7 million, the Victorian Government $111 million and the New South Wales Government $87 million.

While Winslow Construction had completed the second stage of the project in November 2019. The major works package, including the construction of both bridges, was carried out by Major Road Projects Victoria and construction partner McConnell Dowell.

More than 400 direct jobs and up to 1100 indirect jobs were created during the project, with many local businesses and suppliers employed to provide ongoing services.