Companies fight for share in $1.7b Toowoomba bypass

TOOWOOMBA businesses will face off with deep-pocketed international investors jostling for contracts to complete work on the Toowoomba bypass.

TOOWOOMBA businesses will face off with deep-pocketed international investors jostling for contracts to complete work on the Toowoomba bypass.

Last week's announcement of the government's $1.7 billion guaranteed funding base for the project has companies preparing business cases to win the lucrative contracts, including some of Toowoomba's biggest employers.

The government has made it clear that private investment - and 20 to 30-year ownership of the toll road - will still be needed.

Whatever necessary funds can not be sourced privately will be shared on an 80% to 20% ratio between the State and Federal Government.

>> How the $1.7b Toowoomba Bypass deal was done

An artist's impression of the completed Toowoomba Bypass. Picture: Contributed

There will be plenty of jobs to go around and Toowoomba companies like FK Gardner and Sons will be ideally poised to take advantage.

Development manager Dallas Hunter did not reveal whether FKG was involved in a consortium of companies vying for a major share of the project.

"Are we looking at it and hoping to gain work out of it? Yes," he said.

"But we've been working on it for a long time, over 12 months - it didn't just start on Friday."

A call has been made for companies to register interest in building the 41km road.

Mr Hunter said FKG management in Brisbane were still "studying the scope" to see if bids had to be made for the project's entirety, or whether separate and unaffiliated companies could simply bid on their areas of expertise.

Materials and mining services company Wagners is also one of Toowoomba's front-runners in the bypass stakes.

The three-year construction phase of the 41km Toowoomba bypass is expected to create 1800 jobs. Toowoomba companies do not want to be overlooked in the contract bidding war. Picture: Contributed

Director Denis Wagner said being attached to a heavy-hitting consortium was "not necessarily" the only way benefit from the undertaking.

"We're looking at ways to get involved - we just hope the government really pushes the local company side of things," he said.

"If you are involved (in a consortium), that's all well and good but there are still a lot of options for local companies.

"I think everyone in business in Toowoomba will want to be involved in some way ... even the stationery suppliers.

"But the real benefit to this region will ultimately be safer roads.

"That's something we don't want to underestimate."

The equivalent of 1800 full-time jobs are expected to be created by the three-year construction phase of the road.

Originally published as Companies fight for share in $1.7b Toowoomba bypass