In times of recession, economic wisdom suggests that strong and confident investment is the best recourse. This, of course, also depends upon the exercise of fiscal discipline during the fat years to enable the liberation of resources during the lean.

As the years of plenty were ending, the centre-right coalition government ceded control of Australia in 2007 to the centre-left Labor Party under the premiership of Kevin Rudd. The result was the announcement of a number of spending programs designed to support the economy during recession and invest in future productivity. Infrastructure was identified as a key area of interest and the Government of Australia compiled the nation’s first audit of economic infrastructure.

“As one of the most urbanised nations in the world, Australia’s future economic success will largely depend on having sustainable, well-planned and productive cities. Better urban infrastructure, particularly with respect to public transport, will be crucial to achieving this outcome. Without this type of investment, the cost of traffic congestion will more than double to AUD 20bn [(USD 19.83bn)] by 2020,” said Anthony Albanese, minister for Infrastructure and Transport.

The Nation Building Program is one of these spending initiatives. Through this short-term, high-value scheme, the Government of Australia is investing AUD 36.9bn (USD 36.6bn) in road and rail infrastructure over the 6-year period between the financial years 2008-2009 and 2013-2014. This is claimed to be an ‘unprecedented investment by a Commonwealth government in land transport’ and is intended to end what the Rudd government described as the ‘10- year neglect’.

The states each have their own initiatives for infrastructure investment. New South Wales has the State Infrastructure Strategy, South Australia has the Strategic Infrastructure Plan, Tasmania has the Tasmanian Infrastructure Strategy, Victoria has the Victorian Transport Plan and Western Australia has several more specific ventures such as the Main Roads Project. Queensland, however, deserves a special mention.

Brisbane in Queensland is a particular hotspot of tunnelling activity. With projects such as the Brisbane Airport Link, the North-South Bypass Tunnel, the Northern Link Tunnel, the Clem 7 and Cross River Rail to name a few, it is the jewel of the nation as far as the tunnelling industry is concerned and it is not just the city itself that is investing, the state’s level of expenditure is staggering.

The South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan and Program (SEQIPP) is one of the regional plans for public investment in the infrastructure network. Launched in 2005, this project is operated by the Department of Infrastructure and Planning of the Government of Queensland. It currently runs from 2010- 2031, being assessed and adapted on a yearly basis. It should provide AUD 134bn (USD 133.05bn) in infrastructure funding by 2031 of which AUD 97.7bn (USD 96.5bn) will be dedicated to transport, AUD 5.4bn (USD 5.33bn) to energy and AUD 1.5bn (USD 1.48bn) to water projects. Some AUD 16bn (USD 15.81bn) has already been spent on projects completed under the scheme. It will support 930 000 jobs by its final year.

Industrial Queensland
Queensland is a major exporter of coal, even claiming to be the largest exporter of coal by sea routes in the world, and produced significantly more than the other states. It is recognised as firmly in the national interest to support this industry. In the economic year 1996-1997, Queensland transported around 90 million tonnes of coal by rail. Some 12 years later, in the year 2008-2009, more than 170 million tones were transported.

The demand for coal rides over the global financial crisis, with demand from the rapidly expanding economies of India and China leading the way, with steel production as the industry accounting for approximately 71 per cent of exports.

The greater part of Queensland’s coal comes from one of three coal fields or ‘basins’, the Bowen Basin is this dom inant basin. The two almost neglected basins are the Surat and the Galilee. The Holy Grail for the Queensland coal industry would be the connection of these sites with mine-to-port rail networks.

The rail network of South East Queensland is at capacity, however, due to the overloaded hub that is the capital, Brisbane. One solution to this, a tunnel crossing of the capacity-choke that is Brisbane River, is currently in the detailed feasibility phase (see page 22 for feature on Cross River Rail). This is just one of many projects that are currently buoying the tunnelling industry ‘down under’.

Beyond Brisbane
Tunnelling in Australia is, of course, not limited to Brisbane. The Adelaide Desalination Project will involve 20km of underground pipeline. The project cost is AUD 1.83bn (USD 1.81bn). An anticipated 650,000m3 of spoil will be produced and 26,000m3 of concrete will be used as well as 1780t of steel. Some 100 billion litres of desalinated water will be transported from Port Stanvac to the Happy Valley water treatment storage area every year, accounting for half of the water supply for Adelaide.

The Northern Sewerage project in Melbourne finished excavation works earlier this year on a 700m, TBMexcavated tunnel from Newlands Road to Carr Street. This represented the end of Stage 2 works with remaining tunnel and shaft lining set to continue until early 2011. Total pipe works will stretch for 13km. John Holland was awarded the AUD-301M (USD-297.91M) contract for the first stage and the AUD-171M (USD-169.24M) contract for the second stage. Completion is anticipated for 2012.

The Main Sewer Replacement project in Melbourne to replace a 2.3km stretch of the 120-yearold original Melbourne sewer has had to contend with difficult geological conditions in the form of soft, ultra-silty clay. Excavation by an AUD 5M (USD 4.2M), 3m Lovat EPB TBM bored a 2.4m internal diameter tunnel at a gradient of 1:750 to house the 1.8m internal diameter glassfibre reinforced plastic pipe. Bore progress has been lower than expected for much of the drive, but the TBM was launched six months early as a precaution against the difficult ground. The drive towards the Yarra River, ironically, yielded hard basalt. Completion is scheduled for 2012.

Victoria’s Wonthaggi Desalination Plant will be the largest in Australia upon completion in 2011. Construction started in 2009 on the AUD-3.5bn (USD-3.5bn) project being carried out by the AquaSure consortium, which consists of Degremont, Macquarie Capital, and Thiess in a publicprivate partnership (PPP). This project has seen strong public disapproval, including a 3000 signature strong petition submitted to the Victoria Parliament in 2009. Completion is expected by the end of 2011.


Brisbane, urban capital of Queensland A Lovat EPB TBM used for the Main Sewer Replacement Project in Melbourne