Spanish construction company Acciona laying out light rail track at ‘go slow’ rate

THE Spanish light rail contractors holding Sydney to ransom have suddenly sped up work at key sites — but are still laying just half the amount of track needed to meet their own delayed 2020 deadline.

THE Spanish light rail contractors holding Sydney to ransom have suddenly sped up work at key sites — but are still laying just half the amount of track needed to meet their own delayed 2020 deadline.

The Daily Telegraph has learnt Acciona, the construction company the government believes to be on a “go slow’’, has laid 490m of light rail track in the past fortnight. It is understood the current work rate well outstrips the pace at which slabs were being laid at the start of this year, including one week where no track at all was laid.

Work is back underway but at a steady pace on Devonshire St in Surry Hills. Picture: Brett Costello

About 490m of track has been laid in the past fortnight. Picture: Brett Costello

But the government believes the contractor needs to lay about 2000m of track a month to meet its deadline and is still critically behind.

Asked about a go-slow on the worksites, Minister ­­And­rew Constance said last night: “Acciona are clearly still stuffing around the ­taxpayer.

“Other contractors across the state are able to get on with the job they are paid to do. I expect these guys to do the same.”

But in a statement, a spokeswoman for light rail consortium Altrac said to expect faster progress in areas such as Surry Hills, the CBD, Randwick and Kensington in coming months.

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NSW Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance says Spanish contractors Acciona are stuffing around the taxpayer. Picture: AAP Image/Erik Anderson

She said that in all construction zones, work teams were delayed by relocating utilities and that now “most of the utilities works are completed”.

“As we have said publicly there was never a go slow and work has been progressing along the alignment,” the spokeswoman said.

Acciona has taken the state government to court seeking $1.1 billion claiming it was misled on underground utilities. The light rail’s original completion date of 2019 has been pushed back to 2020. The government privately believes work has stepped up at key sites because of media attention that has been drawn to ­Acciona’s slow tactics on the work site.