Westgate Tunnel Soil Issue Bypassed

Sometimes if you can’t kick a goal, you just have to move the posts… The Andrews State Government has announced new rules governing the handling of soil waste from tunneling effectively bypassing its own environmental laws and restrictions to get the Westgate Tunnel project back on track. The new laws which came into effect on 1st July, allow soil waste to be processed provided it is 200mtrs away from schools, homes and healthcare facilities (as opposed to 500mtrs under existing rules). In addition to this, the government will permit contaminated soil to be dumped in containment cells – sacrificing hundreds of millions of dollars in levies.

The move comes as the Westgate contractors John Holland and CPB continue action in the courts to nullify their contract with project owner Transurban. The waiving of the dumping fee will go a long way to alleviating the commercial risk the lead the parties to conflict in the first place.

Critics of the new laws claim that the rules are designed purely to end the commercial dispute at the expense of environmental concerns.

Read more at The Age here.