Airport Link tunnel noise forces people out of their homes
INNER-CITY residents are being forced out of their homes or must put up with around-the-clock construction, with Airport Link ramping up operations.
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INNER-CITY Brisbane residents are being forced out of their homes or must put up with around-the-clock construction, with Airport Link workers ramping up operations.
Companies behind the $5.6 billion project have begun working 24-hours, seven days a week at the Bowen Hills site, after increasing operating hours at the Toombul site late last year.
Residents say complaints are falling on deaf ears, despite previous assurances from the State Government they would not face around-the-clock work.
Bowen Hills resident Matt Chalk said he would have to move his wife and young son, after round-the-clock construction began within metres of his home.
Mr Chalk said while many residents believed Airport Link would benefit the community, he objected to the way residents' concerns were being handled.
"We are not against the tunnel. We think it will be great for Brisbane. What we are against is the way that the project has been managed by Thiess John Holland and managed by the State Government – City North Infrastructure," he said.
"They are the ones that can control the contractor and they are just not doing that."
Residents have accused the operator of exploiting holes in conditions set down by Co-ordinator General Colin Jensen.
Mr Jensen ruled that surface construction creating "excessive levels of noise, vibration, dust or construction traffic movements" be limited to certain hours.
Both CNI and TJH have refused to tell residents what levels are considered "excessive".
If the project finishes by its deadline of June 30, 2012, executives behind Airport Link will be given bonuses.
BrisConnections chief executive Ray Wilson will personally receive a $975,000 bonus, on top of his $650,000-a-year salary.
Clayfield's Denise Keim said the government had reneged on a promise to protect residents.
"We do feel that our interests haven't been looked after."
In a letter to former Clayfield MP Liddy Clark in 2006, then transport minister Paul Lucas promised construction activity would not be "24 hours a day, seven days a week".
A spokeswoman for Infrastructure Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said Mr Lucas was "correct at the time of writing" but changes had since been made to the project.
A spokesman for the Co-ordinator General said Airport Link work was "closely monitored to ensure that appropriate mitigation measures are in place to limit noise generation".
A TJH spokeswoman said work was within the conditions set down for the project.
