A workforce of 231 people, previously employed for the cancelled Roe 8 project, will be reassigned to work on three alternative road upgrades.
Funding for the projects is the result of a new Commonwealth-State $2.3 billion agreement that includes the full relocation of funding from the cancelled Perth Freight Link project.
The new agreement safeguards Roe 8 jobs and will relieve congestion in the northern, eastern and southern suburbs of Perth.
The alternative projects negotiated from the Roe 8 contract will also create hundreds of other indirect job opportunities for local contractors and suppliers.
The Roe 8 renegotiation includes the following road projects:
- Wanneroo Road (Joondalup Drive to Flynn Drive) – Constructing Dual Carriageway (Project Costs: $31 million)
- Fiona Stanley Hospital and Murdoch Activity Centre access from Kwinana Freeway and Roe Highway – (Project Costs: $100 million)
- Armadale Road dual carriageway upgrade between Anstey Road and Tapper Road (Project Costs: $145 million).
Construction on the first of the three projects – the Murdoch Drive connection – is expected to begin almost immediately.
Meanwhile, the Wanneroo Road and Armadale Road dual carriageway upgrades will start construction during the 2017-18 financial year.
The Roe 8 Alliance contractors will be paid about $40 million for the work they have done so far while a further amount – less than $10 million – will be paid in lieu of their lost opportunity to fully recover overheads.
Total State Government expenditure on the Roe 8 project will be $85 million, however, after allowing for retained assets such as land, the written off costs total $46.9 million.
The alliance team will also collaboratively manage the rehabilitation of the cleared Roe 8 site in Coolbellup.
The program will be informed by a working group comprising representatives from the State and local governments, the local community and the alliance.