So what type of jobs might Clarence Valley workers get from 155km of Pacific Highway upgrade?

In October 2014 the timeline Prime Minister Tony Abbott placed on completion of the Pacific Highway upgrade between Woolgoolga and the NSW-Qld border was by the "end of the decade", or to put in another way, by 2020.

All the larger contracts (with contract values ranging from $132.5 million down to less than $500,000) were either invitee only or advertised and, these have been awarded to firms from outside the Clarence Valley and sometimes out of the state for periods up to 2016 and 2017.

In all fairness most of these contracts were beyond the means of most Clarence Valley businesses because of the steep prequalification financial levels required to assure both the federal and state government co-funders of a contractor’s financial stability, solvency, and capacity to manage cash flow requirements.

So how are valley businesses going to benefit from the est. $220 million this approximately 155km upgrade (from 6km north of Woolgoolga to 6km south of Ballina) will cost?

Sadly, Clarence Valley Council let the cat out of the bag in its media release of 29 January 2014:

“While the exact contracts are unknown, we do know there will be opportunity for local businesses,”….

“Examples of opportunities this may present are; landscaping, cleaning, drainage, fencing, etc. [my red bolding]

There are currently only two open tenders available on the NSW eTendering website and these are for an Independent Hydrological Expert Service and Registration of Interest for the Design and Construction of the bridge over the Clarence River at Harwood, NSW. Even the emu fencing contract between Glenugie and Tyndale has passed valley businesses by.

There has also been talk of the jobs expected to be generated by the upgrade section between Glenugie to Grafton and Iluka-Maclean-Yamba, which includes a second bridge at Harwood.

With the valley-wide unemployment rate running at 8.1 per cent (Grafton 8.9 per cent and Maclean-Yamba-Iluka 7.8 per cent) and with negative employment growth in the September Quarter 2014, it would appear that Clarence Valley locals must pin their hopes on sub-contracting crumbs falling from the table once construction work commences or on finding grunt work with the major contractors, cross their fingers that some of those workers from elsewhere want local accommodation for the twelve to twenty-four months these companies might be working somewhere in the valley and, hope like hell that the Harwood Bridge construction - and the separately funded Grafton Bridge project* - begin by 2018.

* The NSW 2014-15 Budget Papers mention Grafton Bridge, with a foreshadowed $117 million in state funding without any specified timeline, but only $8 million actually available for bridge and feeder roads planning this financial year.

Member for Clarence says, "I didn't lie"

Chris Gulaptis, the Member for Clarence, says a group claiming he'd said the O'Farrell Government had set aside $300 million for a new Grafton bridge either misunderstood what he was saying or didn't understand the budgetary process.

"If they think I have lied to them I apologise for that, but I certainly didn't lie to them," he said. [Daily Examiner, 31/1/12]

Seems the message sent from the mouth of the MP and the message that arrived at the ears of members of the group was not one and the same thing. Who do you believe?

Read today's Daily Examiner report here.

Member for Clarence careless with the truth

 Today's Daily Examiner's front page reports:

Member for Clarence Chris Gulaptis has either lied to The Daily Examiner or to the Concerned Citizens Group in relation to funding for a second Grafton bridge.

CCG member Lynne Cairns said Mr Gulaptis had told her and three other members of the group, at a meeting on December 7, that the O'Farrell Government had $300 million set aside for the new bridge. Her claim was backed by fellow CCG members Kim Dahl, Sue Hillery and Lynne's husband, Bob.

But, fielding questions from The Examiner on Friday, Mr Gulaptis emphatically denied he made such a revelation.

"There's funding for planning ... but there's no funding set aside in this budget," he said. "Our commitment is that it will be physically started in this term (before March 2015).

"I apologise if people have misunderstood."

Mr Gulaptis said he understood if the community was sceptical about the bridge being started anytime in the near future, considering Bob Carr made a similar promise in 2002.

"But we will have an option in place by the middle of this year, Bob Carr didn't have that, so we are well on our way."

Various members of the CCG, a group opposed to a new bridge coming into central Grafton, also expressed disappointment at Mr Gulaptis' apparent shift in stance on the issue of where the new crossing should be.

"Before the election he was emphatic that all the heavy traffic needed to be moved out of town and now he's saying it should be left to the experts," Mr Dahl said.

"He's really mucked us around with his position," Mrs Cairns said.

Mr Gulaptis said he would not speculate as to which option the RMS would select as the preferred route but said each one required further technical investigations.

He said there was no point speculating on the options unless you were a technical expert.

Source: The Daily Examiner, 30/1/12