Steel import delays causing more headaches on West Gate Tunnel project

The West Gate Tunnel is set to be delayed yet again, with COVID blamed as work stalls on the massive $6.7 billion project.

Delays getting Chinese-made steel to Australia is putting more strain on the problem-plagued West Gate Tunnel project.

Steel for bridge pylons that will hold an elevated road above the Maribyrnong River won’t arrive until the second half of this year, meaning work cannot progress.

Foundations for the bridge has been done, but workers were moved to different parts of the $6.7bn project late last year as a result of the stalled works.

Ongoing difficulties transporting concrete pieces from a purpose-built casting facility at Benalla have also been flagged as contributing to the problem.

The issue is being blamed on the coronavirus pandemic, but the West Gate Tunnel Authority insists the timeline for the tunnel opening — which has already been pushed back a year to 2023 — is still on track.

Work on the new West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Workers on site fear more job losses are likely this year as elements of the project are completed and others are stalled until further progress is made on the long-running delay to tunnelling.

Transurban has told the state government COVID-19 restrictions imposed on industry and the workforce have affected the delivery of steel for the project.

A West Gate Tunnel Project spokeswoman said work on the project was continuing.

“Manufacturing of the steel to build the new bridges over the Maribyrnong River is well under way and is not impacting overall project completion,” she said.

“The design of the bridge and the materials that will be used to build it, including steel, will comply with the rigorous Australian standards.”

A much bigger and continuing problem is the disposal of toxic soil from the site of the road, which will eventually link the West Gate Freeway to CityLink via a new toll road.

This has still not been resolved due to a bungled attempt by the state’s environment protection authority to issue permits for landfill sites to take the contaminated dirt.

Workers on the West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Project builders John Holland and CPB are also still locked in a dispute with tolling giant Transurban over who should pay for the debacle, with the joint venture trying to torpedo the contract it signed in 2017.

The Herald Sun revealed in 2019 the West Gate Tunnel would be built from 85 per cent local steel — less than the 92 per cent mandated by the ­government’s procurement policy.

Sources close to the project said the number of job “redeployments” last year was related to the steel woes, and was higher than the 70 first flagged by the road’s builders. Workers were shifted to other parts of the project shortly before Christmas.

Others were deployed to separate projects being run by the joint venture or Transurban.

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