The Victorian government is close to signing its first multibillion-dollar tunnelling contract associated with the huge project.
The Victorian government is pushing ahead with plans to start tunnelling the $34.4 billion first stage of the Suburban Rail Loop despite Canberra refusing to commit funding for the project beyond an initial $2.2 billion pledged by Anthony Albanese during last year’s federal election campaign.
A source involved in contract negotiations but unable to speak publicly due to commercial sensitivities said there were no signs of either party seeking to back out or delay, despite long-term uncertainty over funding. “It feels like everything is going as it should,” the source said. The state government announced in August that Suburban Connect, a multinational consortium comprising Australian construction giants CPB Contractors and Acciona and Italian-based civil engineering group Ghella, was its preferred bidder for the SRL East main works contracts.“The Victorian and Commonwealth governments have already committed $14 billion for SRL East – that’s more than enough for what we need to get tunnel boring machines in the ground by 2026,” a government spokesperson said.
The federal government has privately flagged with the states that it will honour Labor’s infrastructure election commitments but funding beyond that, particularly for projects that haven’t been through a costing process, will be difficult to secure.It has received but not yet released the report of an independent review of the national infrastructure pipeline.
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