❓ The Minister for Transport outlines the government's streamlined tendering process for transport projects up to $20 million, designed to benefit WA small to medium-sized contractors and protect local jobs in light of COVID-19 impacts. Several major projects are being fast-tracked.
AnsweredQoN 256Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TRANSPORT —
TENDER PROCESS
256. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Transport:
I
refer to the impact of COVID-19 on Western Australian jobs and businesses. Can
the minister outline to the house how the McGowan Labor government's
decision to streamline the tendering process for transport projects will
provide more opportunities to WA small to medium-sized contractors and help
protect local jobs?
TENDER PROCESS
256. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Transport:
I
refer to the impact of COVID-19 on Western Australian jobs and businesses. Can
the minister outline to the house how the McGowan Labor government's
decision to streamline the tendering process for transport projects will
provide more opportunities to WA small to medium-sized contractors and help
protect local jobs?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Balcatta for
the question. Of course, there are a lot of roadworks in the member's
area, and we will continue to make sure that
we reduce congestion and improve safety across the state. Recently, we
announced that the government has
approved new measures to streamline the process for the awarding of contracts
for transport construction projects of up to $20 million. The new
statewide construction panel contract will include buying rules designed to
minimise the cost of tendering for companies, to maximise the spread of work
across the small and medium-sized companies. This will create a faster time
frame for the delivery of these projects. Up to $140 million of transport
projects will be expedited under the panel, saving jobs and protecting the
future. The feedback we got from construction companies was that they were in a
pipeline of work, in particular the small and medium-sized companies, and that
is what we are doing. These projects will create over a thousand jobs.
Of course, as the Premier outlined,
we are also fast-tracking a number of major projects across Western Australia, including significant projects such as the Albany
ring-road and the Bunbury Outer Ring Road. Today we announced the Tonkin
gap project, which is a significant project that not only is a component of the
Ellenbrook rail line, but also addresses a major
bottleneck. The shadow Treasurer will be pleased that the project also includes
a new principal shared path; that is
something that he was asking across the chamber. There will be more cycle
paths, but, of course , the Tonkin gap project addresses the bottleneck
in that area and will be a key part of the Ellenbrook rail line. There will be
new dive structures at Bayswater and Malaga, and a lot of work will be
undertaken not only across the Bayswater area, but also up to Malaga. Of
course, we also started the Bayswater train station redevelopment, and we are
proceeding with the procurement process for the final part of the Morley–Ellenbrook
contract. We are also in negotiations with the commonwealth about what else we
can do together to get more contracts underway across Western Australia. Both
the state and federal governments are very keen to see how many more contracts
we can issue across the state in the next six months. We have negotiated well
with the commonwealth government and we hope to make some more announcements
about new projects that can commence in the next six months and be finished
within the next two years.
We
believe that construction in major road and rail projects across the state is
key to creating jobs and making sure our economic recovery is faster than in
other places. As a government, we have a huge opportunity to use our purchasing
power to create more jobs and more infrastructure across the state, and that is
what we are very, very keen to do, working with the federal government and all the key approval agencies to bring
these projects onstream as soon as possible.
the question. Of course, there are a lot of roadworks in the member's
area, and we will continue to make sure that
we reduce congestion and improve safety across the state. Recently, we
announced that the government has
approved new measures to streamline the process for the awarding of contracts
for transport construction projects of up to $20 million. The new
statewide construction panel contract will include buying rules designed to
minimise the cost of tendering for companies, to maximise the spread of work
across the small and medium-sized companies. This will create a faster time
frame for the delivery of these projects. Up to $140 million of transport
projects will be expedited under the panel, saving jobs and protecting the
future. The feedback we got from construction companies was that they were in a
pipeline of work, in particular the small and medium-sized companies, and that
is what we are doing. These projects will create over a thousand jobs.
Of course, as the Premier outlined,
we are also fast-tracking a number of major projects across Western Australia, including significant projects such as the Albany
ring-road and the Bunbury Outer Ring Road. Today we announced the Tonkin
gap project, which is a significant project that not only is a component of the
Ellenbrook rail line, but also addresses a major
bottleneck. The shadow Treasurer will be pleased that the project also includes
a new principal shared path; that is
something that he was asking across the chamber. There will be more cycle
paths, but, of course , the Tonkin gap project addresses the bottleneck
in that area and will be a key part of the Ellenbrook rail line. There will be
new dive structures at Bayswater and Malaga, and a lot of work will be
undertaken not only across the Bayswater area, but also up to Malaga. Of
course, we also started the Bayswater train station redevelopment, and we are
proceeding with the procurement process for the final part of the Morley–Ellenbrook
contract. We are also in negotiations with the commonwealth about what else we
can do together to get more contracts underway across Western Australia. Both
the state and federal governments are very keen to see how many more contracts
we can issue across the state in the next six months. We have negotiated well
with the commonwealth government and we hope to make some more announcements
about new projects that can commence in the next six months and be finished
within the next two years.
We
believe that construction in major road and rail projects across the state is
key to creating jobs and making sure our economic recovery is faster than in
other places. As a government, we have a huge opportunity to use our purchasing
power to create more jobs and more infrastructure across the state, and that is
what we are very, very keen to do, working with the federal government and all the key approval agencies to bring
these projects onstream as soon as possible.
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