Suburban Roads Upgrade aims to improve Victoria's suburban roads network and include provision of ongoing maintenance.
The program was originally intended to be delivered in three availability-type Public Private Partnerships packages for western, south eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne, that included road duplications, widening and maintenance work for an additional 20-year period.
While the Western Upgrades Package was awarded as a PPP in December 2017, the Victorian Government decided to terminate the PPP procurement for the other two regions, and instead deliver the work in those regions as 12 individual projects.
As of July 2020, these 12 projects are set to be awarded progressively to a pre-qualified panel, based on their past performance and bid values.
The scope for the now-terminated PPP Package for South Eastern Upgrade comprised of a mix of duplication and upgrade works on eight arterial roads including:
- Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road
- Lathams Road
- Hallam North and Heatherton Road
- Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road
- Pound Road West, and
- Golf Links Road.
Similarly, the now-terminated Northern Roads Upgrade comprised of duplication and widening work including:
- Bridge Inn Road
- Childs Road
- Craigieburn Road
- Epping Road
- Fitzsimons Lane, and
- Sunbury Road.
In addition to the above, South Road Upgrade has been added to the scope the the program.
Key Dates
| Apr 2016 | Project Announcement |
| Dec 2017 | Western Roads Package awarded |
| Dec 2020 | Tranche 1A Contracts Awarded |
| Jan 2021 | Construction of Tranche 1A commenced |
| 2025 | Expected Construction Completion |
Funding contributions
| Federal Government | |
| Victorian Government |
Procurement
| Tenderers (EOI/ROI): | Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Suburban Roads Upgrade project's new construction supplier panel and Tranche 1A projects. |
| Successful Tenderer: | The first tranche of projects allocated in December 2020 through a pre-qualified panel were: - Fitzsimmons Lane (awarded to BMD Constructions) - Lathams Road (awarded to Winslow Infrastructure) - Child’s Road (awarded to Ace Infrastructure), and - Hallam North and Heatherton Road (awarded to Symal Infrastructure). |
PROJECT HISTORY
| Apr 2016 | Victorian Budget for 2016-17 announced the Government will examine building a series of outer-metropolitan road upgrades. |
| Dec 2017 | Netflow – a consortium comprising of Plenary Group, Cintra Global, WBHO Infrastructure, Broadspectrum and Amey Consulting – was awarded the Western Roads Upgrade PPP. |
| Jul 2018 | Expressions of Interest (EOIs) opened for the South Eastern and Northern Upgrade PPP packages. |
| Aug 2018 | EOIs closed for South Eastern and Northern Roads PPPs. |
| Oct 2018 | Shortlist announced for South Eastern and Northern Roads PPP packages. |
| Oct 2018 | Shortlist announced for South Eastern and Northern Roads PPP packages. |
| May 2019 | Victorian Budget for 2019-20 outlined $1.14 billion Federal funding for the remainder of the project, with the total capital expenditure stated as $2.27 billion. |
| Jul 2020 | Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Suburban Roads Upgrade project. The RFP invited companies in order to establish a construction supplier panel. The RFP also called for proposals for the first four projects (Tranche 1A) to be delivered. It requires submission of proposals in two stages. Proposals to be considered for the pre-qualified panel close on 13 August. For proposals to Tranche 1A projects, submissions close 31 August. |
| Jul 2020 | Procurement of South Eastern and Northern Roads PPP packages terminated, deferring to procurement to a new structure. |
| Jul 2020 | Request for Proposals opened to qualify for the panel that will be considered for the 12 restructured projects in southeast and north of Melbourne and the first four projects (tranche 1A). |
| Dec 2020 | Major Road Projects Victoria awarded the first tranche of projects, allocated through a pre-qualified panel. |
| Apr 2021 | The Victorian Government announced Alliance contract awards for three elements of the package, following a decision to terminate procurement of the Northern and Eastern Packages as PPPs in June 2020. The Golf Links Road upgrade was awarded to MACA Civil, the Craigieburn Road upgrade was awarded to Fulton Hogan, and the Pound Road West upgrade was awarded to Seymour Whyte. Construction on all three upgrades is expected to commence by late 2021. |
| Oct 2021 | The Victorian Government awarded two more contracts. The Narre Warren North Road Upgrade will be delivered by Symal Group. Negri Contractors will deliver the South Road Upgrade. Major works were expected to commence in December 2021. |
| Nov 2021 | The Victorian Government awarded the contract for the Bridge Inn Road Upgrade to Laing O’Rourke. Construction on this Upgrade is expected to begin in 2022 and be completed in 2025. |
| May 2022 | The 2022-23 Victorian Budget allocated $856 million to the project in FY2022-23, and identified a total estimated cost increase of $304 million for the Suburban Roads Upgrade – Northern and Southern packages due to ‘market conditions’. |
