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9/22/2020

$3 billion overruns on West Gate Tunnel

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$3 billion overruns on West Gate Tunnel By Timna Jacks September 21, 2020 — 11.33pm

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9/22/2020

$3 billion overruns on West Gate Tunnel

West Gate Tunnel works: over budget and behind schedule JOE ARMAO

F But The Age understands the utility companies were not complying with the West Gate Tunnel builders' relocation requests, as they had not been formally notified about the project’s special status under the act. The government was required to do this under the terms of the project's contract, which then triggers a negotiation period.

This follows more than $2 billion in cost blowouts linked to the discovery and relocation of soil contaminated with PFAS, which cabinet documents predict will push out the construction timeline by nearly a year. There is no landfill space in Victoria for the project's 3 million tonnes of contaminated soil — a problem the project's builders discovered midway through 2019, after contracts were signed. in documents lodged in the Supreme Court, saying they would not have signed the $5 billion construction contract had they been properly informed about the contamination. Chambers Westgarth lawyer Andrew Stephenson cited reports prepared by Transurban’s consultants Golder Associates in 2016, which predicted that 85 per cent of the project’s soil was not contaminated. https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/3-billion-overruns-on-west-gate-tunnel-20200921-p55xkf.html#:~:text=By Timna Jacks&text=Leaked s… 2/4

9/22/2020

$3 billion overruns on West Gate Tunnel

This was backed by the project’s Environmental Effects Statement, which also concluded there was sufficient landfill capacity for the waste. In June 2019 after contracts were signed, the builders' own modelling found low levels of PFAS in most of the project’s soil. On July 23 last year, the EPA refused to provide soil classifications, saying the waste was not 'clean fill' and there was no landfill space to dump it.

A government spokesman said no claims have been accepted by the state and the government would hold Transurban to the terms of their fixed price contract. "The best thing that CPB, John Holland and Transurban can do to avoid losing money on this job is to resolve their disputes and start tunnelling as soon as possible." A Transurban spokeswoman said it was not also not accepting any of the builder's claims. "Like on any major project, there are ways the builder can put forward claims on disputed matters."

She said work on the project were happening "around the clock with a major stage of widening the West Gate Freeway from 8 to 12 lanes almost complete".

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Timna Jacks Timna Jacks is Transport Reporter at The Age

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9/22/2020

$3 billion overruns on West Gate Tunnel

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