Three tunnel construction groups are in talks with Vicroads, the Victoria state roads authority in Australia, to reduce the cost of their bids for a 1.5km long extension to Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway.
This follows the return of design and construct tenders which showed the lowest was US$178M, about US$55M above Vicroads‚ estimate.
The three groups are:
Victoria state transport minister Peter Batchelor is confident the tunnel project can go ahead as planned after cost savings have been identified following the series of talks. He said: "Each tenderer has agreed to participate in an extended and confidential tender process to identify possible cost savings on the project. It is expected that this process will be completed in July 2002.
Batchelor concluded, "After that, the tender assessment and award process can be finalised."
Tunnel construction is now expected to start by the following September with completion scheduled for mid-2005. Under the terms of the contract, the winning group will design and construct the tunnel extension and then maintain the highway for 10 years.
