Taxpayers could be asked to pay for West Gate Tunnel stoush
The bitter dispute over the Westgate Tunnel project has escalated, with Transurban preparing to take the builders to the Supreme Court — and it could be Victorian taxpayers who will be stung with the costs.
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Victorian taxpayers could be asked to pay for the stoush enveloping the West Gate Tunnel, as Transurban seeks to drag the State Government into its battle over cost overruns on the stalled project.
In a dramatic escalation of the standoff between Transurban and its builders, the Supreme Court has been asked to rule whether the government is also liable for financial pressures at the centre of the bitter dispute.
Contractors CPB and John Holland in January wanted to tear up their contract to build the $6.8 billion tunnel and have pushed for arbitration to resolve their issues with the tolling giant.
But on Friday, Transurban sought a court order holding the builders to the current agreement and seeking to bring the government into the dispute over delays and costs.
If successful, the tactic would set the stage for a three-way court fight between the builders, Transurban and the State Government that would cost millions and threaten to derail the project further.
Court documents obtained by the Herald Sun detail a litany of requests to the government since June last year seeking compensation for delays and costs on the tunnel.
But the government maintains the stoush is between two companies and must be resolved by them.
A spokeswoman said the government was not part of the matter.
“This is a dispute between Transurban and its builder CPB and John Holland,” she said. “It’s time for Transurban and its builder CPB-John Holland to get on with the West Gate Tunnel and the government will be holding Transurban to its contract.”
A Transurban spokeswoman said it was doing everything possible to work through challenges on the project.
“CPB John Holland Joint Venture’s actions on the West Gate Tunnel Project have been extremely disappointing when they signed up to a fixed-term fixed-price contract,” she said.
“We are taking action to ensure CPB John Holland Joint Venture comply with the contract they signed up to.”
Tunnel boring machines in Yarraville are yet to be used because there is no site in Victoria licensed to take the toxic soil, contaminated with the industrial chemical PFAS, that they will unearth.
The delays have stretched for so long the project’s completion date has been moved from 2022 to 2023.
The building consortium has laid off hundreds of workers, and plans to lay off hundreds more, because it claims it is losing millions of dollars each week without digging.
There are three sites bidding to take the toxic soil but none of them have received environmental or planning approvals.
Maddingley Brown Coal is believed to be well advanced in its proposal but is also facing a backlash from Bacchus Marsh residents who do not want the soil in their suburb.
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