InfrastructurePatrick LauThu 25 Jun 26
Work to Restart on $3.1bn M6 Motorway After Two-Year Stoppage
Work on a troubled Sydney motorway is to restart more than two years after subsidence events halted tunnelling.
The M6 Stage 1 project will re-commence after the NSW Government reached an agreement with delivery consortium CGU, consisting of CPB Contractors, Ghella, and UGL.
No additional cost will be borne by taxpayers, the government said, and a new timeline would soon be issued. About 90 per cent of tunnelling had been completed at the time of the halt.
The M6 Stage 1 project will stretch between St Peters and Kogarah, bypassing 23 sets of lights on the Princes Highway and reducing movements on General Holmes Drive by 10,000 vehicles per day.
Traffic will bypass Sydney Airport, and travel time between Kogarah and the Anzac Bridge will be reduced by 15 minutes.
In March, Transport for NSW issued a default notice to CGU, requiring work to begin again under the original $2.5-billion contract by May 1. Work had been scheduled for completion by the end of 2025. According to Transport for NSW, the project's cost is now around $3.1 billion.
NSW roads minister Jenny Aitchison said that the initial contract had been agreed under the previous Coalition government, and “when push came to shove, NSW taxpayers were left in the lurch”.
“We will not hand out blank cheques when contractors try to take NSW taxpayers for a ride,” Aitchison said.
Transport for NSW secretary Josh Murray said that the contract “has clear dispute resolution processes and these will be used—ending the threat of walk-offs and the need for termination—with a deed putting the interests of taxpayers, motorists and residents first”.
Meanwhile, Stockland continues to progress plans for a $2.6-billion industrial precinct at the site of the former Kogarah Golf Club. Part of the site, which will be allocated to the Bayside Council for public open space, is currently occupied by a construction compound for M6 works.
And the NSW budget delivered on Tuesday 23 June contained a parcel of new roads funding, with a focus on Western Sydney.
A $300-million package will expand upgrade works at Elizabeth Drive and Fifteenth Avenue, and like-for-like Federal matching will take funding to $600 million. Total funding for the two projects will now reach $2.4 billion.
