The contract for the stage three works of the Pakenham Roads Upgrade must be referred to IBAC after it was revealed a person involved in awarding the contract at Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) is now employed by the company awarded the work.
The multi million dollar contract for the stage three Pakenham Road Upgrade works is the latest in a string of questionable public infrastructure spending on construction projects, including those for work on the North East Link, the SPA Project, the Pakenham Roads Upgrade, and numerous other MRPV projects.
Ronnie Hayden, Australian Workers’ Union Victorian Branch Secretary, said the matter needs to be referred to IBAC.
“This sticks worse than a bag of prawns in the sun, contracts for major road and rail projects in this state are being awarded to a select group of contractors through opaque tender processes,” said Mr Hayden.
“These are Victoria’s Big Build projects, not only should all Victorians have the right to drive on them, but they should do it knowing that tens of millions of their hard earned tax dollars weren’t wasted on dodgy deals,” he said.
“The public are being taken for a ride, not in a train or car, but with their tax dollars.
“Companies which finish jobs on time and on budget are not getting jobs.
“Companies who score very high when it comes to value for money, safe worksites and happy workers are not getting any work.
“It’s worth noting the money from cost blowouts and inflated dodgy contracts is going into the pockets of the companies involved and not the pay packets of workers as these companies would have you think.
“I looked Transport Infrastructure Minister Danny Pearson in the eye in November last year and told him this, I’ve had a gutful, IBAC investigators need to get in there and start turning over rocks to see what crawls out.
“This is taking money out of the road maintenance budget, already with all the major road upgrades money is being diverted from fixing potholes on regional roads which the driving public know are in a shocking way.
“If the ALP Government thinks it can go to an election bragging about these projects then it can think again because by then most of their senior Ministers will be giving evidence too often at IBAC to campaign.
“Only this week the Allan Government was announcing budgetary constraints on Victoria’s hospitals, perhaps the reason the State has no money for health is due to the billion dollar blowouts on these jobs? What’s this really costing Victorians?,” said Mr Hayden.
