Skip to main content

New South Wales is seeking financial packers for WestConnex in Sydney

Investment bank Goldman Sachs will soon be sending out expressions of interest for backers to finance Australia’s biggest road deal, the three-stage WestConnex project to be rollout by the New South Wales government. According to a report by The Australian newspaper, initially around US$1.17 billion will be needed for the first phase of the Sydney toll road project. The first phase will likely cost between nearly $2.35 billion and $3.9 billion. Total cost of all three phases over 10 years could be as
June 19, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
Investment bank 3347 Goldman Sachs will soon be sending out expressions of interest for backers to finance Australia’s biggest road deal, the three-stage WestConnex project to be rollout by the New South Wales government.

According to a report by The Australian newspaper, initially around US$1.17 billion will be needed for the first phase of the Sydney toll road project. The first phase will likely cost between nearly $2.35 billion and $3.9 billion.

Total cost of all three phases over 10 years could be as much as $11.6 billion and the 33kmk of new roads will connect the south-west and western parts of Sydney with the airport, city and port.

Among the Australian lenders expected to be interested in the public-private partnership are Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac and NAB.

The Australian reported that details will soon emerge surrounding traffic forecasts on the first phase, along with the award of construction contracts.

Exactly what shape the PPP contract will take remains to be seen. It is a sensitive issue, The Australian said, since the collapse of the two PPP toll projects in Sydney. Both Lane Cove Tunnel, a 3.6km twin-tunnel, and Cross City Tunnel, a 2.1km twin-tunnel, went into receivership when traffic forecasts proved inaccurate.

The Australian report said one PPP option is for a shadow toll, where construction company receives a payment per driver from the government.

Earlier this month 3260 World Highways reported that a joint venture featuring 4755 John Holland, 1026 Samsung C&T and 2685 Leighton Contractors had secured a deal to build and design Sydney’s M4 East motorway.

The M4 East is expected to be completed in 2019 when it will form part of a project to build the WestConnex road tunnel.

Last December, Duncan Gay, roads minister of New South Wales, announced changes to the third phase of the WestConnex motorway. Tunnel will be 8km, around 1km longer than initially planned.

However, the changes likely won’t add to the overall price tag for the project, according to the NSW government. The third stage would cover the route between Haberfield and St. Peters and be constructed between 2018 and 2023. The tunnel will be linked to two other large motorway tunnels that include an M4 extension to Harbefield and M5 East tunnel to St. Peters.

Works to build WestConnex will start next year with the $3.3 billion widening and extension of the M4 to four lanes each way from Parramatta to Haberfield, including a tunnel beneath-Parramatta Road.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Large-scale Australian trial of all-seeing truck driver hazard warning system
    April 24, 2014
    In Australia, New South Wales state government agency Transport for NSW is to conduct a large-scale trial of a system that ‘sees’ around corners and over the crest of hills, warning truck drivers of hazards up to 1km away. The trial of the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) technology will run for five years, using 95 MK4 anti-collision devices provided by Cohda Wireless communicating with roadside hardware on a dedicated 5.9GHz frequency. The first phase will launch in mid-2014, with 30 v
  • Australia: Roe8 extension could face more legal challenges
    April 4, 2016
    The West Australia state government is expected to face another legal challenge for its proposed extension of the Roe 8 highway, according to ABC News. This fresh challenge will be filed by local traditional owner Corina Abraham who will argue that the WA government's process for granting Aboriginal heritage approval is flawed. In June 2015, the Aboriginal Cultural Materials Committee decided to approve the state government's request for disturbing registered aboriginal sites in order to extend the Ro
  • Flatiron wins Steveston work in Canada
    April 18, 2022
    The Steveston Interchange project near Vancouver is key for improving traffic flow into what will be a new immersed Massey Tunnel under the Fraser River.
  • Cost reductions on Russian highways
    July 12, 2012
    Major cost reductions are being seen on some key highway projects in Russia including the new ring road project in St Petersburg, where the reduction is US$192.31 million. The management of the ring road in St Petersburg has signed an agreement with the main contractors (Flora, the corporation Inzhtransstroy) to cut costs by 12-17.6% in 2009-2010. The 12% reduction is equivalent to US$32.05 million and will apply to contractors that are to complete facilities in 2009. Meanwhile the 17.6% cut is for work pla