The Queensland government has announced the shortlists of consortia bidding for contracts to build the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail project.
In all, five consortia have been shortlisted across two contracts, following evaluation of 89 expressions of interest for the project.
Three will be considered for the Tunnel, Stations and Development (TSD) public-private partnership: Pulse (led by Cimic Group and including Pacific Partnerships, CPB Contractors, UGL, BAM, Ghella and DIF), Qonnect (QIC, Capella Capital, Lendlease, John Holland and Bouygues), and CentriQ (Plenary Group, Acciona, GS Engineering & Construction, Salini Impregilo and Spotless Group).
Two others will be seeking the contract for the Rail, Integration and Systems (RIS) alliance: River City (Laing O’Rourke Australia Construction, GHD, Aurecon Australasia and Systra Scott Lister Australia) and Unity (CPB Contractors, UGL Engineering, Jacobs Group Australia, and Aecom Australia).
The shortlist was originally supposed to be announced in May 2017. According to acting premier Jackie Trad, the squabble between the Palaszczuk and Turnbull governments over the project’s funding caused the delay.
“If this process had occurred in May last year it would have occurred before there was money for the project,” Trad said.
The selection process determining which consortia will be awarded the contracts will take between 12 and 18 months.
“Shortlisted companies will now be required to prepare detailed bids that demonstrate innovation and offer Queenslanders the highest possible value for money,” Trad said.
“Once the assessment process is complete, the consortia selected from these shortlists will be building this project.”
The project is expected to be completed in 2024.
“We are getting on with delivering this project and the calibre of the shortlist and the enthusiasm from the industry demonstrates how important Cross River Rail is to Queensland,” Trad said.
“We promised to build Cross River Rail and that is exactly what we are doing.”