Lead contractor CPB has withdrawn from the $3.1 billion M6 motorway due to challenging ground conditions. The final phase of tunnelling was halted last year by two large sinkholes.

Council of the City of Sydney

Contractors working on the M6 motorway project in Sydney have announced they will stand workers down, citing unresolved challenges with the construction. The lead contractor, CPB, informed Transport for NSW that it is withdrawing from the $3.1 billion project due to unprecedented underground conditions that have complicated tunnelling efforts.

Last year, the project faced major delays when two large sinkholes appeared, halting the final phase of tunnelling. According to CPB, the company has been unable to develop a compliant engineering solution to address the challenging ground conditions, despite having undertaken both the design and construction responsibilities under a contract awarded by the previous government.

An email from CPB to workers stated that these difficulties make it impossible to achieve a design solution, and the contractor has expressed a willingness to collaborate on resolving the issue. Meanwhile, the dispute between parties has resulted in over $5.5 million in legal fees for taxpayers.

The M6 motorway aims to connect the M8 from Presidents Avenue in Coggera to Arncliffe and has already experienced a delay of three years. While the opposition has not commented on the situation, the government remains hopeful that parts of the project can open to the public in the coming months. Officials indicate that the project is approximately 90% complete, and they plan to begin handing over finished sections to the community soon.



Contractor steps back from M6 motorway project

Downing tools, contractors say it's the end of the road for the troubled M6. We're very disappointed with the actions that have been notified to us yesterday that is going to stand workers down at the end of June. Last year, two massive sinkholes put the brakes on the last section of tunnelling, but now lead contractor CPB has told Transport for NSW it's done with the $3.1 billion project because of complex conditions underground not seen in Sydney before. The contractor has come forward to us and said they are concerned they don't have the engineering answers for us. I think we can solve that together. The contractor took on a both design and construct contract from the previous government. In an email to workers yesterday, CPB stated a compliant design solution cannot be achieved to overcome these challenging ground conditions. We had a workshop scheduled for Thursday. At this stage, I'm very hopeful that that workshop could still go ahead. The deepening dispute has already cost taxpayers more than $5.5 million in legal fees. Best advice to the contractor today is to send the lawyers home and bring back the engineers. I mean, we need to get a solution to this. Linking the M8 from Presidents Avenue in Coggera to Arncliffe, the M6 motorway has already been delayed three years. For its part, the opposition which signed this contract today was not commenting. But the government is remaining hopeful sections of this project will start opening within the next few months. This job is 90% complete. We want to start handing bits of this over to the community. Ali Donaldson for 10 News First.

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