Western Sydney Airport construction to begin, creating 300 jobs
CONSTRUCTION on the $5.3 billion Western Sydney Airport is about to begin, creating hundreds of new jobs.
NSW
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CONSTRUCTION on the $5.3 billion Western Sydney Airport will begin almost immediately, creating hundreds of new jobs.
The first major contracts for work on the sprawling Badgerys Creek project have been awarded to Australia’s two largest building companies, Lendlease and CIMIC.
The Saturday Telegraph can also reveal that Bechtel — the US company which designed and built expansions at Dubai and Hong Kong airports, and which is currently working on London’s Gatwick Airport — will be brought in to manage the entire construction project.
The contracts, to be announced today by Cities Minister Paul Fletcher, are understood to be worth about $330 million and will create at least 300 jobs.
Bulldozers will begin to flatten the area and construct new roads before major construction begins next year under the deal struck by Lendlease and the CIMIC-owned CPB Contractors.
When Western Sydney Airport opens in 2026, it will have already supported 11,000 jobs during construction and will be able to handle 10 million passengers in its first year alone.
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Mr Fletcher said that work was finally getting underway on one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects after it had been “talked about for a decade”.
“Western Sydney Airport will transform Western Sydney, creating thousands of jobs and encouraging economic growth and investment in the region,” he said.
Assistant Finance Minister David Coleman said the airport would drive a jobs boom in Western Sydney, with billions of dollars of other construction planned to support the new facility.
MORE: Residents saying they are being forced to live next to airport
“It’s great to see that starting now, generating more local jobs, even at this early stage in the project,” Mr Coleman said.
“These contracts will deliver real economic benefits for Western Sydney and are further evidence of the tremendous progress being made on this once-in-a-generation project.”
The state and federal governments are expected to invest about $3.6 billion in upgrading and building new roads around the airport, while another $7 billion has been set aside to connect Badgerys Creek to Sydney’s rail network at St Marys.
MORE: Driverless buses to shuttle commuters to Badgerys Creek Airport
The government-owned Western Sydney Airport Corporation was established last year after the Turnbull government decided to go ahead with the project after Sydney Airport Corporation, which had first rights to build the new facility, walked away from the deal.