Transcript - Molonglo River Bridge construction site

DAVID SMITH: So good morning here from the land of the Ngunnawal-Ngambri people. My name is David Smith, Federal Member for Bean, or more importantly the Federal Member for the Molonglo Valley on a very, very exciting day with my federal colleague, Catherine King, the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, and my great ACT colleagues Chris Steel and Tara Cheyne. For anyone who has travelled Coppins Crossing across the decades as I have, has been looking forward to the commencement of work on this critical infrastructure, today’s a really great day. So without any further ado, I will pass over to my colleague, Catherine King.

CATHERINE KING: Thanks very much, David, and it’s terrific to be back on-site here with Minister Steel and Minister Cheyne and, of course, my colleague David Smith, who is the local Member for Bean here. And, again, I think back in February last year when we awarded the contract for this project, we were coming through paddocks and long grass and now you can see well and truly the start of construction.

This is a great project that is being funded jointly by the Commonwealth Government and the ACT Government and really, it’s not just about a bridge, it’s not just about a road, it’s actually about building connections and community. You can see the enormous housing development that’s happening out here. Lots of people want to come to Canberra to live, lots of people want to be out in this beautiful environment, but transport is really critical. I want to commend the ACT Government for really, you know, planning the transport needs of the ACT, but in the same time, also building in active transport, building in those connections to communities rather than often what we see is communities are built and then we’re trying to retrofit those roads, that transport in afterwards and the ACT Government’s done a really good job of planning these suburbs.

Of course, this is over a $225 million project jointly funded by the two levels of government. These partnerships are just the sort of investment that the Commonwealth is keen to work with States and Territories on because we know that it is about providing opportunities for more housing, providing more opportunities for liveability in communities such as Whitlam, as you can see, which is said to almost double just this year alone. And at the same time providing great opportunities for our construction work force.

Can I thank – we’ve got a number of workers on-site today, but you’re going to see a lot more in the coming days, months, and week ahead, and, really, thank those construction workers for the great job that they do. We’re seeing a lot more women in construction as well, so I reckon you’ve seen a few on-site here today and I do want to say it’s great to see that as well.

I’m going to hand over to Chris to say a few words about this project. Again, it’s a pretty complex project, as you can see. Crossing the river there is not going to be an easy job but the engineers are well and truly up for it, and I think it’s going to be a great visual for you all to see as this project progresses, but I’ll hand over to Chris and then also to Tara.

CHRIS STEEL: The ACT Government is building, together with the Commonwealth, the transport connections to make sure that everyone living in the Molonglo Valley has access to the road connections that they need, but also the services they need as well. This project is incredibly important for Molonglo residents for two reasons – to provide access across the Molonglo River, linking the northern suburbs of Molonglo with the southern suburbs. But what it will also do is connect residents with the proposed new Molonglo town centre which will, of course, be a retail and services hub.

This project will build new intersections which will connect residents with those services in the town centre and also in the northern suburb of Whitlam and I’m also pleased to say today that the Suburban Land Agency has also lodged a development application for a further section of work on John Gorton Drive south of this project, which will provide further connections into the new town centre. So together these projects are building the suburbs of Molonglo with the structure that they need to be really well connected in with services.

I know that Molonglo residents will be incredibly pleased to see the main works getting under way on this project following a long period of detailed design. Works have already started since January and there will be some disruption during that period, but I’m informed that the buses will still be running on time during the period.

TARA CHEYNE: Good morning, everyone, and a very big thank you to BMD for hosting us here at this very exciting announcement today. The formal works have commenced here for the Molonglo River Bridge. And can I also acknowledge the presence of Ryan Hemsley who is the chair of the Public Transport Association of Canberra and also a local Molonglo resident, and I think he can really talk to what it’s like to live in this area and also what this will mean as we go forward and as Molonglo Valley develops, and as we unlock with this project future projects and further housing.

What we’ve seen over the last few months has been the realignment works beginning for Coppins Crossing that will allow the bulk of the bridge works to begin later this year. So the realignment is critical for us to get started with and so what people have seen with the compound being constructed and with the enabling works is that we will have that realignment coming along over time and then towards the end of this year, the construction works on the bulk of the bridge will begin.

As you heard from Minister Steel, this is really critical for us to make sure that we’ve got this right in the stage order, and it will be city-building infrastructure. That is exactly why we’re so proud to have the support of the Australian Government in developing this project, in being a partner with us for a $230 million investment here in the ACT for our growing region.

As you’ve heard from Minister Steel, the Molonglo town centre is going to be a destination in its own right. So this is not just going to be about an arterial road or a corridor for transport, but also about connecting suburbs, connecting town centres to each other, and supporting the growing communities that we’re seeing here, especially with the Molonglo Valley projected to reach more than 70,000 residents here over time.

Importantly for us, it’s also about enabling public transport. So the number 47 will have right of way, even when we’ve got the stop-go lights operating. There will be some disruption, of course, especially when we’re needing to move trucks from side to side over the river. But we will update the community and we’ll keep an eye on what the traffic impacts are and certainly try to minimise those during our peak hours as well. We are proud that there will be bus jump lanes associated with this project as well. So when the bridge is complete, again, buses will still have priority as they move through these areas, and on top of that, there is going to be shared cycle ways and pathways on either side of the bridge and then the SLA, of course, will be contributing to further shared path works on the other either sides of the bridge on each side of the river and also with the pedestrian underpass.

So this is about connectivity, but it’s also about ensuring that there’s access and ensuring that we’re elevating the status of Molonglo with the announcement yesterday that it will be a town centre. I think the very eager movement of people that we’ve seen right across Australia to Canberra and also here to Molonglo Valley, as you can see, it’s a beautiful part of the world and this has been long-awaited and I think certainly exacerbated by some of the rainfall that we’ve had over the last few years which means that Coppins Crossing has been closed a few more times than we would have liked. But on that, this will be Canberra’s tallest bridge, it will be its fourth longest bridge and I think we all have a lot to look forward to. Thank you.

CATHERINE KING: Questions. Chris first or me?

JOURNALIST: Whoever wants to take this one. When’s it going to be finished?

CATHERINE KING: Chris can go. You can do that.

TARA CHEYNE: So the bridge will be open and operating by the end of December 2025. So about a 2-year construction timeline. There will be some further construction works following that period as well, but we expect it to be open and operating by December 2025.

JOURNALIST: And on the cost, is that $225 million price tag that’s quoted in your media release, is that fixed? Is that ever going to go up? Or will the project expand out?

TARA CHEYNE: So certainly, like with all construction projects, across the ACT, and across Australia, we have seen some cost pressures and some cost escalations. We’ve already accounted for that, and both the ACT Government and the Australian Governments have chipped in some further funding to ensure that those cost pressures are met. And we will keep an eye on this. But now that we’re at this point, with the alignment works happening, with the detailed design nearing completion for the major part of the construction works of the bridge, we are more and more confident, as time nears, about the overall envelope that’s associated with this project. But, of course, we will keep an eye on it and with cost pressures right across the country.

JOURNALIST: So you have built in contingencies to allow for those fluctuations that we’ve seen a lot of?

TARA CHEYNE: Yes.

JOURNALIST: In terms of construction commencing, there were concerns raised as far back as 2021 about construction being delayed until 2023, we’re now at the beginning of 2024. Why has it taken so long to get construction off the ground for this?

CHRIS STEEL: The ACT Government has been planning for the growth of this region for some time and this project is still on track for delivery in December 2025, as we’ve heard from Minister Cheyne, and we will continue to look at the planning for other road connections around the Molonglo Valley to meet this higher-than-expected predicted population now of over 70,000 people who will be living here in the future.

So we will continue to look at what road connections, what public transport services are required to meet the needs of this population. This isn’t the only road we will be building in the Molonglo Valley. There are future roads planned connecting John Gorton Drive through to Bindubi Street on William Hovell Drive, there are future connections planned as part of an east-west arterial linked to the Tuggeranong Parkway. The Suburban Land Agency will be starting work on that as part of a State development plan that they will be bringing forward later on this year. So we are looking forward to continuing to make sure that we better connect residents here with services, with employment and jobs, with recreational facilities and with the other residents here in the Molonglo Valley.

JOURNALIST: What’s the timeline on those other routes out of Molonglo? At the moment there’s only two ways to get in and out of Molonglo and the congestion is growing every year?

CHRIS STEEL: The John Gorton Drive bridge is obviously going to be a critical connection point through to William Hovell Drive and to get through the city at Belconnen for residents that are coming from the south, and then for residents of the north coming south and connecting with our southern town centres. So that will provide a second additional improvement to the connections in addition to the Cotter Road, which of course the ACT Government also invested in augmenting some years ago.

We’re looking at those future connections and the timing of those based on the work that was recently completed as part of the district strategy for the Molonglo Valley. The Suburban Land Agency will start work on that east-west arterial as part of the development of the proposed new Molonglo town centre. So they will start to build out that road which will connect with Holborow Avenue, Denman Prospect, and then eventually that will connect out to the Tuggeranong Parkway and through another bridge across the Molonglo Valley. So we’re looking at the timing of that project and when it will be needed as part of the development of the new town centre.

JOURNALIST: Just on the, I guess, the commencement of construction here today. Why didn’t it start sooner? Was it due to some of the pressures that the building and construction sector’s seen? Was perhaps the original estimate for starting it last year or perhaps sooner perhaps a little bit off from the Government?

CHRIS STEEL: This is when we have planned for the new bridge. We always knew that with the current population of just over 12,000, 13,000 people that there would be a need to have the bridge in place by around 2025 to cater for the growing northern suburbs, to make sure that they’re connected in with the new town centre which will be, of course, developed in parallel with this, with some of the first land release happening in ‘24–25 within the town centre. And that means that residents in Whitlam don’t have to go into Belconnen to be able to get their - access major retail facilities and offices and so forth. They can come into the town centre using the bridge. So it was planned for this period of time and the date hasn’t changed. It’s still expected to be completed in December 2025.

JOURNALIST: What happens to Coppins Crossing?

CHRIS STEEL: So that will remain as part of the road network and there will be access down to the river provided. Coppins Crossing has long played a role in connecting this part of Canberra with the north but it’s well and truly past its used-by date. It’s not as safe as it could be and of course has to be closed every time there’s a major flooding event, which causes disruption for the community. We have seen, unfortunately, some accidents around this area in the last couple of years and so we hope the new bridge will deliver a much safer and apply a capacity connection for the residents of Molonglo as this region grows.

JOURNALIST: Is it still going to be light rail-ready?

CHRIS STEEL: This is light-rail ready infrastructure, that includes the bridge and the 1.7 kilometres of lead-in roads to the bridge connecting with the Molonglo town centre. So this part of Canberra is part of the light rail master plan. It includes a connection out to Molonglo Valley and we’ll, of course, look at that in future decades to support this region with public transport.

In the short term, the bridge will offer the opportunity of looking at further rapid bus connections to the areas of Whitlam and the future stages of Molonglo [indistinct] suburb which is yet to be named and the bridge will enable a reliable connection for public transport. At the moment there’s only one route bus, the 47, that runs across the bridge. In future we’d like to see rapid buses being able to use the bridge once it’s open to connect those suburbs and we want to have that conversation with the community about where those rapid bus services should go, once they cross the bridge.

JOURNALIST: When you say light rail-ready, do you mean there’s just a gap there for a span?

CHRIS STEEL: I can hand over to the construction partners if they want to talk about the exact specifications, but we’ve released those. They’ve been through a development application process. We can come back and put in that infrastructure at a later time because it’s been factored into the design from the very beginning.

JOURNALIST: Just to clarify, Minister, I believe this is going to be a staged process for the bridge. If so, is it going to be in three stages and can we expect, I guess, foundational works because this part of the construction period?

CATHERINE KING: Maybe speak to the construction, they can answer some of those more detailed questions.

JOURNALIST: Sure, no problem.

CATHERINE KING: As much as I would love [indistinct].

JOURNALIST: This is the first stage of the works that are starting. When can we expect that main package that you flagged, when can we expect that to start?

TARA CHEYNE: So these are the enabling works, this is the alignment works with these roads and especially with this northern approach here. Once that’s complete, we will be able to get started on the construction of the bridge itself. We expect that to happen later this year. But this is the work that has to happen first. Of course, simultaneously, we are preparing and finalising the detailed design for the construction of the bridge itself. So we will be ready to go once the realignment works have been completed.

JOURNALIST: So a timeline for how long those things, the realigned work?

TARA CHEYNE: I think that’s where the construction will be able to tell you.

CATHERINE KING: One of you, you’ve got lots of very detailed questions about the project so you can talk about all of them.

JOURNALIST: Just for the tapes can we grab your name and title firstly?

SAME TINDAL: My name’s Sam Tindal. I’m the project construction manager for BMD.

JOURNALIST: Thank you, Sam. So I guess coming back to some earlier questions, what can we expect as part of this first phase of the construction period?

SAM TINDAL: Yes, so part of our early works is the realignment of Coppins Crossing. So we’re bringing in the order of 16,000 cubes in to push the Coppins Crossing on the northern side here closer in to the river corridor. The reason we need to do that is to be able to facilitate the construction of abutment B on the northern side and bring in the road from behind where we’re standing, down through into the back-abutment B and across the crossing.

JOURNALIST: And this will be done in a three-stage process. Is that correct? And if so, are you able to canvas for us what that will be look like as the stages roll on?

SAM TINDAL: The staging for the construction, in particular, in and around the bridge, is realignment of the Coppins Crossing Road. At the same time we can commence the substructure of the bridge. Once we get the road – Coppins Crossing realigned, we can start on the main arterial are road, main alignment then into the structure of the bridge.

JOURNALIST: Minister, Catherine King, if we could perhaps get you forward for a comment. Just on, I guess, the Federal Government’s funding for the project, so the 20-$30 million that’s already been committed here, is that just for this first order stage or will there be more contributions from the Federal Government as the project progress?

CATHERINE KING: The total project is 230 and it’s 50/50. So we’ve funded $125 million of Commonwealth funding. We found extra money in December as part of the midyear economic financial outlook for cost pressures and that’s really what we’re learning as we go along. Through the infrastructure investment program, $120 billion has been invested by the Commonwealth in road, rail, freight transport networks right the way across the country, and unfortunately what we’ve found is that the previous government made lots of promises, put out lots of press releases well before we had any idea about what the costs of some of those projects were.

This project has been a really important one, part of the reason that we’ve wanted to make sure we’ve got it right is to make sure that we’ve got the money available to actually build it. So that 230 mill that’s available for this project is 50/50 and that Commonwealth funding is locked well and truly locked in.

JOURNALIST: Minister, just on another issue. Yass, just outside of the capital, 45 minutes from here, the water is shocking. It comes kind of brown and undrinkable out of the tap, they’re living on 100-year-old water infrastructure. Now there has been a commitment from the state government to what the estimated cost is of around $40 million to fix that situation. I’m sure you’re aware of that in your portfolio, but I wonder what can the Commonwealth do to kick in and get that problem solve for the people that have been living with that situation?

CATHERINE KING: That would be a question for Minister Plibersek, who has Water Infrastructure, but one of the things that we have done is to look at the way in which the National Water Grid Authority money operates to be able to free that up for town water supplies. We’ve made a number of announcements already about that. We’re acutely aware that for many communities, particularly in regional, rural communities, water infrastructure is ageing. We put it in 120, 130 years ago in some instances and we’re seeing that not working for communities right the way across the country. But really that would be a question for Minister Plibersek, who is responsible for Water Infrastructure.

JOURNALIST: Minister King, just a question on the ageing Australian Institute of Sport infrastructure. How much needs to be spent or how much is going to be spent on getting the AIS up to scratch?

CATHERINE KING: Well, the first thing we did when we were talking about this project, obviously we’re well aware of the ageing infrastructure at the AIS, was to commission a review. We received that review just over, I think, three weeks ago now. In order to end some of the uncertainty that had been around the location of the AIS, the Government moved quickly to assure Canberrans and the ACT Government that our intention and review’s recommendation was that the AIS should stay here in Canberra. We’re now making our way through the rest of the recommendations on that, which include a focus on funding for the infrastructure as well as what else you might do around the Bruce precinct, and we’ll continue to have discussions with the ACT Government about that as we lead into Budget process in May.

JOURNALIST: Is there any kind of figure that you could –

CATHERINE KING: Not at this stage. I think we’re making our way through those recommendations.

JOURNALIST: Is it over $200,000?

CATHERINE KING: We’re making our way through those recommendations at the moment. It would be well and truly over $200,000, I can be sure of that.

JOURNALIST: Could there be an opportunity to rejig the legislation, because as I understand it, that campus can’t be redeveloped for things like build to rent or that kind of housing when it was built it was a long time ago. Is it an opportunity to, you know, perhaps pull a few different levers and get a bit of [indistinct]?

CATHERINE KING: Yeah, it’s certainly in my view, and I’ve just actually had a discussion with this with Minister Steel, is that, you know, precincts really need, in order to be enlivened, they needs lots of things. They need sporting facilities, they need retail and commercial opportunities, and they need all sorts of housing as well that is part of that, and we’re learning as we look across the country that that precinct planning is really important. So whilst we’ve obviously had recommendations from the reviewers about the Australian Institute of Sport itself and the needs for improvements to infrastructure there, they have also made some recommendations about the Bruce precinct in and of itself and we’re having discussions with the ACT Government about that as well.

JOURNALIST: Can you just tell us roughly when we might get to see the review in full?

CATHERINE KING: Again, this is all part of a budget process and that’s May this year. So we would hope to have some decisions made by then but, again, I’m completely subject to the vagaries of ERC and Cabinet. Thank you very much, everybody.

SPEAKER: We do have Ryan here who can talk from multiple perspectives.

RYAN HEMSLEY: G’day, my name is Ryan Hemsley, I’m the chair of the Public Transport Association of Canberra. I’m the convenor of the Molonglo Valley Community Forum, I’ve been a resident of the Molonglo Valley since February 2017.

JOURNALIST: Ryan, clearly it’s something you’ve been calling for for a long time in the community forum. Must be, I guess, pleasing to see construction get under way for what is going to be a critical project for this region?

RYAN HEMSLEY: Absolutely. The construction work here is probably the most significant construction work to happen in the Molonglo Valley since those first sods were turned for the first Molonglo suburbs of Coombs and Wright in the early part of the last decade. One of the most common question we get at the Molonglo Forum is what’s happening with the bridge? When are we getting the bridge? We feel confident now with all the construction work that’s happening here, that we will have this bridge up and ready by December 2025 and I know residents of Whitlam are looking forward to having that flood-free access to the southern suburbs of Molonglo, Coombs, Denman Prospect and likewise the residents of Denman Prospect are very much looking forward to being able to access a high-level flood proof crossing across the Molonglo River up to Belconnen, the city and Canberra’s northern suburbs.

JOURNALIST: Do you think we should have seen construction start on this sooner or are you satisfied with the government’s, I guess, time frame for this?

RYAN HEMSLEY: Certainly we’re looking forward to that in December 2025 completion date. I feel confident that the assurances we’ve been given for that target will be met and certainly there will be a lot of upset and angry residents if that doesn’t end up being the case. But we’re seeing a lot of work on the ground. It is almost a bit surreal. I think everyone’s been talking about this project for many years, but it’s not until you see the heavy earthworks, the construction work, people on-site, that you really appreciate what a significant infrastructure project this is going to be. I think residents for the Molonglo Valley it’s been a long time coming.

JOURNALIST: And, of course, this bridge comes a day after we heard that the ACT Government’s going to be looking into making the Molonglo Valley a town centre. Are you satisfied and confident that they will be able to meet the current and future demands of the growing region?

RYAN HEMSLEY: Yes, and I wanted to thank the Suburban Land Agency, the Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate and Major Projects Canberra for working collaboratively on ways to ensure that this project isn’t just a bridge project. It is also about delivering those critical shops, those critical community facilities and critical community infrastructure that the Molonglo town centre will provide and if we can stage this appropriately, if we can make sure we’re building the bridge and then we’re building intersections to access the future Molonglo town centre, we’re well on our way to delivering all those long-promised facilities, that long-promised transport infrastructure, those long-promised shops that residents was the Molonglo Valley have been waiting a long time for.

JOURNALIST: What do you make of the Minister’s statements about alternative routes out of Molonglo? Do they appear to be later in the year [indistinct]?

RYAN HEMSLEY: I think we’re very much looking forward to the plans for the future east-west arterial, connecting Holborow Avenue and Denman Prospect out to the Tuggeranong Parkway. I think this is obviously the next big Molonglo River Bridge project but I think the residents of Molonglo, just completing the first one is going to be a significant achievement and a very welcome development in the development of our district as we head towards that population figure of 70,000 people in the coming decades.

CATHERINE KING: Thanks, everyone.