Araluen MLA Robyn Lambley refers Alice Springs CBD road debacle to Parliamentary Committee

The debacle around a road sealing project in the Red Centre capital has grown, with a Parliamentary Committee set to investigate the ‘bitumen bleed’ plaguing the roads. Read what we know.

‘Bitumen bleed’ is being labelled as the reason recently resurfaced Hartley St, Alice Springs, is shut to buses and cars are not allowed to park on the road. Picture: Gera Kazakov

A Red Centre road resealing project – which is being labelled as an “abject failure” – is being referred for investigation by a Parliamentary Committee by one Alice Springs politician.

Three recently resealed roads in the Alice Springs CBD – Hartley St, Bath St, and Gregory Tce – had been in “obvious decline” since August, Araluen MLA Robyn Lambley said.

“These roads have literally come unstuck. Large patches on all stretches of this CBD road network have turned into liquid tarmac,” she said.

“It raises one critical and obvious question: How can this happen?”

Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley at her office in Alice Springs. Picture: Jason Walls

Since October, water trucks have been spraying the roads, with gravel also placed on the bitumen by the Department of Logistics and Infrastructure.

The roads were shut to buses for a day in October, however, services have not been interrupted since.

The department has kept tight-lipped on how much these works have cost, but remedial works on the three roads were set to begin December 8.

However, the works will now be undertaken at night, a spokesperson said, with a date not set for when they will begin.

“Pedestrian access will be maintained to all businesses,” the spokesperson said.

But on Thursday, Ms Lambley referred the project to the Public Accounts Committee for investigation.

“This committee has the power and resources to investigate all areas of NT Government spending and has the power to uncover why this Alice Springs roadworks project has been an abject failure,” she said.

Built up gravel in the Hartley St street parking, Alice Springs, November 29, 2024. Picture: Gera Kazakov

“Whilst I am not proposing a witch hunt, the lines of accountability within the NT Government for this poorly executed and even more poorly delivered NT Government funded project must be identified. Public scrutiny of this project is essential.”

At the October 29 Alice Springs ordinary council meeting, councillor Eli Melky proposed council seek a “warranty period” on government works in the wake of resealing.

In early October, Infrastructure Minister Bill Yan said “bitumen bleed” was behind issues with the roads.

‘Bitumen bleed’ is being labelled as the reason recently resurfaced Hartley St, Alice Springs, is shut to buses and cars are not allowed to park on the road. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Public Accounts Committee chair Clinton Drysdale confirmed the committee had received Ms Lambley’s request.
“The Committee will discuss this correspondence when it next meets,” he said.

“As the Public Accounts Committee has only just received notice of the referral, we have not yet had the opportunity to deliberate on it.”

The three roads being resealed was part of the Alice Springs CBD revitalisation project, which began in 2021, but was competed in 2024 after a number of delays.

Ms Lambley has been critical of the project in the past, calling it a “debacle” in 2023.

“Alice Springs deserves better,” she said.