Exclusive Construction Group fined after site leaves ‘river of mud’ running into drains

A furious magistrate has lambasted a construction business after it admitted polluting a local water system, saying suburban Sydney is “tired of cowboy companies”.

Bankstown Local Court House, where the company was sentenced. Picture: Robert Pozo

A furious magistrate has lambasted a construction business after it admitted polluting a local water system, saying suburban Sydney is “tired of cowboy companies”.

Exclusive Construction Group Pty Ltd, directed by Shadi El Saddick, pleaded guilty in Bankstown Local Court on Thursday to a charge of polluting waters.

Canterbury-Bankstown Council took the company to court after finding mounds of dirt and sediment smeared across a street footway and a “river of mud” flowing into city stormwater drains.

The court heard a council officer had conducted a compliance inspection of a construction site on Tyalgum Ave, Panania, on February 6, following complaints from nearby residents.

Upon arrival, the officer found construction vehicles leaving the site had dropped heavy mud on the road, while copious amounts of soil and sediment, washed from the site by heavy rain, covered a footway.

Tyalgum Ave, in Panania. Picture: Google Maps

Documents tendered to the court show the officer also found the construction company had failed to install sediment control measures that would have prevented soil erosion from entering the city’s stormwater.

The officer also found damage to a council footway, caused by construction vehicles using a non-compliant access way to the site, after the company failed to install necessary protection measures.

The company received an on-the-spot fine of $8000.

But a prosecutor told the court that was not the end of the matter because the company had “cleaned” the mess two days later by hosing down the street, creating secondary pollution.

Exclusive Construction Group’s solicitor, Hamzah Khan, told the court his client was a “relatively small” construction company which had only been operating for the last three years.

Mr Khan said at the time of the offence, workers were not on site due to “extreme weather”.

Magistrate Jennifer Giles described the extensive mess and pollution as “shocking”.

“This was a nightmare for the neighbours,” she said.

“They had no one to notify.

“If it hadn’t been brought to (the council’s) attention, it would have gone on and on. The photos speak for themselves.”

She also told Mr Khan “residential, suburban Sydney is tired of cowboy companies like your client”.

“And, problematically, they weren’t proactive,” Ms Giles said.

“It’s a dreadful amount of dirt and sediment into drains.”

Ms Giles ordered Exclusive Construction Group to pay an additional $2500 fine, half of which will go to the council.

She also ordered the company to pay $500 in “professional costs”.