WA road maintenance contracts worth more than $50M

27/3/96

Transport Minister Eric Charlton today announced the first in a series of packaged, long-term road maintenance contracts for Western Australia, valued at more than $50 million.

One of the contracts, awarded to WA company, MacMahon Contracting Pty Ltd, will provide major economic spin-offs for the town of Moora and the Mid-West region.

MacMahon won a $23.1 million Main Roads contract to maintain and improve more than 1,700 kilometres of the Great Northern Highway and other State roads in the Mid-West, Wheatbelt north and metropolitan regions over the next three years.

"Significantly, MacMahon has decided to base a major part of its workforce in Moora, which will provide huge economic growth for the town," Mr Charlton said.

The Minister said in addition, CMPS & F - the company appointed to manage the term maintenance contract - will establish a joint office in Moora with MacMahon and maintain a presence there for at least three and a half years.

"MacMahon intends relocating four core staff and their families from Perth to Moora, recruit local labour and sub-contractors where possible and use the services of local shire councils," Mr Charlton said.

"CMPS & F will relocate two core personnel to Moora and recruit secretarial staff and road network inspectors locally.  The company will also use Moora as a training base for graduate engineers, which means a steady stream of young trainees will be based in Moora as part of their post graduate studies.

Deputy Premier and Commerce and Trade Minister Hendy Cowan said the decisions by MacMahon Contracting and CMPS & F were firm evidence that the Government's regionalisation strategies were producing benefits for rural communities.

"It is the Government's intention to encourage the development and location of industry in WA and regional WA wherever possible," Mr Cowan said.

"This particular decision is going to have a major, positive impact on Moora stimulating job creation and providing a boost to the economy."

The MacMahon contract calls for maintenance and minor improvement works on Great Northern Highway from Meekatharra south to the Perth metropolitan area, as well as on a network of State roads in parts of the Mid-West and northern Wheatbelt.

The network includes the Perth-Lancelin Road, Brand Highway, Bindoon-Moora Road, Moora-Dongara Road, Northam-Pithara Road, Geraldton-Mt Magnet Road and the

Wubin-Mullewa Road.

The $4.3 million CMPS & F contract is for the management of the MacMahon contract and a second complementary road maintenance contract for the northern Wheatbelt, which has been awarded to Main Roads.

This contract, valued at $18.4 million, is for maintenance works on 860 kilometres of roads in the region.

A third maintenance contract, worth $10.5 million, has gone to Boral Contracting.

Boral won the right to maintain and improve 1,365 kilometres of road in the northern Mid-West through to the Pilbara, including the Meekatharra to Sandfire section of Great Northern Highway.

Mr Charlton said the term maintenance contracts were the first to be established by Main Roads in WA and were based on world best practice.

"Further contracts of this nature are being developed for other parts of the State and will become commonplace as Main Roads concentrates more and more on managing the road network," the Minister said.

"We will see a greater amount of road construction and maintenance carried out by private industry and local government in rural WA under contracts of this kind."

Mr Charlton said the savings to Government, road users and the public generally would come in the form of Main Roads reducing its overheads through skilful contract packaging and management and by letting larger contracts like these over longer periods.

The Main Roads transition will save more than $80 million over the next five years and the money will be channelled back into State road works.

Media contact:  Ian Hasleby  321 7333