The final contracts for the project were signed between private infrastructure operator Transurban, Federal Assistant Infrastructure Minister Jamie Briggs and New South Wales Roads Minister Duncan Gay.
In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Lend Lease said that its Engineering business had secured the $A2.6 billion contract for the design and construction of the NorthConnex project – including the integration of the widening of the M2 motorway.
Lend Lease is in a joint venture with France-based Bouygues Construction to deliver the project, with Transurban announcing the joint venture as the preferred tenderer in March 2014.
An overview of the NorthConnex project:
The project is a 9 km twin tunnel link from the southern end of the M1 Pacific Motorway to the Hills M2 Motorway. Key features of the tunnel design include:
- “¢ Twin 9 km motorway tunnels built with a three lane capacity (but initially marked for two lanes each way)
- “¢ A speed limit of 80 km/h
- “¢ A high clearance height of 5.3 m
- “¢ A northern interchange connecting with the M1 Pacific Motorway, the Pacific Highway and Pennant Hills Road
- “¢ A southern interchange connecting with the Hills M2 Motorway and Pennant Hills Road
Commenting on the contract, Minister Gay said the project has cleared the final stage of the unsolicited bid process and was the first major infrastructure in New South Wales to be approved under the State Government’s unsolicited proposal process.