Coffs Harbour bypass: non locals dominate early tender list for work

Victorian enterprise among out-of-region firms outnumbering local businesses

With Pacific Highway bypass construction expected to bring thousands of jobs to Coffs Harbour the big question will be how many of them can be filled by locals.

If indications from an early-works tender list are anything to go by, local business will have some stiff competition from firms hailing from outside the region.

According to the NSW Government eTendering website more than half of the firms who made a play for the early provision of survey services were from outside the Coffs Coast.

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While there were four Coffs Harbour based businesses and one Port Macquarie based business tendering for a Transport for NSW contract, there were five from Sydney, one from the Central Coast and one from as far away as Victoria.

Sod turning for the Coffs Harbour bypass and an image of the properties still to be acquired along the proposed bypass route.

Applications closed last week and contracts are yet to be awarded.

READ MORE: BYPASS START: 30% of properties still to be acquired

Potential tenderers were invited to provide qualified survey personnel for survey services on the Coffs Harbour Bypass which consists of a combination of construction, cadastral and detail survey works to facilitate early works.

The 14km bypass is Coffs Harbour’s largest infrastructure project and is expected to bring in thousands of jobs over the next five years.

Coffs Harbour Pacific Highway bypass will include tunnels, much to the delight of the community.

With house prices and rents ballooning even before a hole has been dug, there have been growing concerns over the region’s capacity to handle the expected influx of workers.

READ MORE: Tunnels the safest option says leaked report

At the official “start” of the $1.8 billion bypass project NSW Roads Minister Paul Toole said the Government was mindful of the limited accommodation but said that “a large part of the workforce” would come directly from the region.

“Let’s not forget there are thousands of jobs that are going to come from the local area, so those individuals, those contractors, those companies are already located in Coffs Harbour and some of the surrounding towns,” he said.

Roads Minister Paul Toole at the sod turning before the official start of the Coffs Harbour bypass.

“But we also know that during the life of the project when we are going to see other contractors come in they are going to be coming at different times.

“They are not all going to be here at the same time at any one point.”

READ MORE: ‘Critical issue’ for banana growers ahead of bypass start

Mr Toole said Transport for NSW had explored transport to sites and even the possibility of setting up worker camps, however, they would be left to the companies which were awarded contracts.

“Transport for NSW will work very closely with whoever the awarded tenderers (are) … to ensure that issues around accommodation will be addressed.”