State government will be named in legal stoush over West Gate Tunnel
Tolling giant Transurban and its contractors have been ordered to face an independent mediator to help settle a bitter legal stoush over the trouble-plagued $6.8 billion West Gate Tunnel as the project’s builder fights to have its contract torn up.
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Tolling giant Transurban and its contractors on the trouble-plagued $6.8 billion West Gate Tunnel project have been ordered to face an independent mediator in an attempt to resolve its bitter legal stoush.
Supreme Court Justice Kevin Lyons on Friday set down for Transurban and builders CPB and John Holland to undergo mediation on July 13.
“I would encourage the parties to take the opportunity for mediation before an independent mediator ... to resolve the underlying issues of this dispute for the benefits of the parties and the community in general,” Justice Lyons said.
If the issues can not be resolved, Justice Lyons said it would be set down for trial in the Supreme Court on July 27.
It comes as CPB and John Holland have been pushing to get out of their current contract since January due to costly delays in the project.
But Transurban won’t back down, and filed an application in the court seeking orders against the building consortium to honour its agreement.
The case was listed before Justice Lyons on Thursday to determine how it should proceed, but was adjourned for 24 hours to allow the state government to be added as an interested party.
Justice Lyons had also hoped the parties would have been able to come to an agreement overnight.
But on returning on Friday morning, they were still at a stalemate.
Neil Young QC, for the builders, argued the court did not have jurisdiction to make the orders that Transurban was seeking and that the matter instead belonged before an arbitration tribunal.
He was against mediation, saying “we don’t see that is going to be a step that will be constructive” ahead of a jurisdictional argument.
“We terminated the contract in March. Now we want to get on with it,” he said.
The court heard the Andrews government has been added as an interested party, but it would not be taking part in the proceedings.
It has repeatedly maintained the tug-of-war is a matter between two private companies and has lashed out at both sides as hundreds of workers have been laid off from the project.
The contractors have argued the current agreement should be torn up as their costs continue to balloon and project delays due to toxic soil push its completion date to 2023.
But Justice Lyons threw a spanner in the works and said he could not entertain the application without the state government being a party to the matter.
“Necessary parties need to be joined — they can choose not to be there,” Justice Lyons said.
He said if he was to make such a declaration, all parties would be bound by it.
“That would include the state,” Justice Lyons said.
The Andrews Government has repeatedly maintained the tug-of-war is a matter between two private companies and has lashed out at both sides of the dispute as hundreds of workers have been laid off from the project.
Although they will be named in the Supreme Court case, they are not expected to step into the legal battle.
“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 government spokeswoman said.
Justice Lyons adjourned the case until Friday for the parties to have further discussions, and to allow the state government to be named in.
He suggested the tolling giant and the building consortium consider urgent mediation to see if some of the issues can be resolved.
It comes as the Bacchus Marsh community plan to hold an online Zoom protest on Thursday night against toxic soil from the tunnel project being dumped on their doorstep.
The project has been hit with major delays as there is no site in Victoria licensed to take the soil, contaminated with the industrial chemical PFAS, to be unearthed with tunnel-boring machines.
Maddingley Brown Coal in Bacchus Marsh, Hi-Quality Group in Bulla, and Cleanaway in Ravenhall are bidding to handle the soil.
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