Parliament to reveal how many locals will work on bypass
Trevor Watts puts hard question to minister overseeing the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing.
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THE Queensland Government politician overseeing the construction of the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing has been asked to reveal exactly how much of the work will be done by locals.
Member for Toowoomba North Trevor Watts asked his counterpart Minister for Main Roads Mark Bailey a direct question on the issue.
"Will the Minister advise the percentage of the project's total cost which is to be sourced from local contractors and suppliers and the projected number of local jobs to be created from that?" Mr Watts asked.
The question of local work on the project has become a hot issue. In winning the contract, constructor Nexus Infrastructure had promised to give at least 75% of jobs to local workers - or 1350 jobs.
The Chronicle has been contacted by local companies who say they have been overlooked by out-of-town contractors.
Mayor Paul Antonio has said he was concerned to hear that local companies and workers were being overlooked by Nexus.
He plans to take the matter up with the consortium.
Nexus' newly appointed chief executive officer John Hagan said at a recent business meeting the company had commitment to 75 per cent of local participation.
"What that translates to is 1800 direct and indirect jobs," he said.
"The direct jobs are very easy to modify; how many subcontractors we hire, how many direct employees working for Nexus we hire."
Mr Bailey has taken that question on notice and is expected to provide a detailed reply at the next sitting of Queensland Parliament on April 19.
HOW THE BYPASS WILL BE BUILT
The key features of Nexus Infrastructure's TSRC design solution include:
- Four lanes from the Warrego Highway East Interchange to Warrego Highway West
- Grade separated interchanges at Warrego Highway West, Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road and Gore Highway
- A grade separated connection to Mort St
- An about 30-metre cutting at the top of the Range will be constructed as an alternative to the tunnel solution as detailed in the reference design to allow all heavy vehicles, including dangerous goods and over-dimensional vehicles to use the TSRC
- An 800m viaduct built over the existing Queensland Rail line
- Continuity of the New England Highway through a new bridge over the cutting.
Originally published as Parliament to reveal how many locals will work on bypass
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