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NSW Premier Chris Minns has come out swinging against Western Sydney Airport Metro contractor Webuild, saying the state government “won’t be gouged” on infrastructure contracts.
As reported by The Australian Financial Review, the Premier told reporters in Sydney that the government believes contracts are “sacrosanct” amid a dispute with Webuild over the contractor’s push to inject an extra $2.2 billion into the beleaguered project.
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“It’s not like anyone has accused us of walking away from a contract. It’s not as if any of these contractors or builders stood up and said, ‘The government said they’d pay $5 billion, but they’ve decided they’ll only pay $4 [billion]’,” he said.
“We expect contracts to be filled, and to be honoured by both the contractor and us … we’ve got so many contracts on the run at the moment that if the word gets out that you can gouge the government at the end of the contract, then we’re gone.
“Taxpayers are fed up with blowouts in major infrastructure projects, but if there’s a common belief … that you can gouge the government at the conclusion of a project, the NSW government will be up for the rent on all of our big projects, and that can’t be the case.
“If we’re going to continue to build for NSW, these contracts have to be honoured.”
Webuild last week implemented a go-slow on construction for the $11 billion metro, which was due to open alongside WSI later this year but has been pushed back to 2027, with fears that further disruptions might delay the project until 2028.
Works have been restricted to critical construction only, with no night or weekend labour allowed; a source told the AFR last week that “anything outside the railway track”, including utilities, carparks, and landscaping, has been “completely stopped”.
“Sydney Metro continues productive discussions on a number of claims and design modifications with the head contractor, Parklife Metro consortium, to resolve all issues and get metro services up and running as soon as possible,” a Sydney Metro spokesperson said.
This is not the first time the spotlight has been on Webuild, which was awarded the metro contract as part of the Parklife Metro consortium by the previous Coalition government; a subcontractor, Future Form, was last year accused of exploitation of workers and “Mafia-style” intimidation tactics.
The NSW government will operate a free bus service from WSI to St Marys between the opening of the airport and the completion of the metro.
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