How often do you come across roadworks in progress and then look across and see a team of hi-vis workers armed with shovels and brooms? Do you wonder whether our taxpayer dollars are being well spent? Are there more workers than necessary? What about all the sparkling new machinery? Why is everyone standing around?
You may be surprised to learn, most of the money is not going to the workers: the men and woman who brave the elements, work amidst the exhaust fumes and dust or who get sick and tired of vehicles not slowing down.
A far bigger chunk goes to ‘fees’ of various kinds as we are about to detail.
Our useful case study is a road project was bungled to the tune of an additional $380,000. The Department State Growth, State Roads, the Huon Valley Council and the Minister have all been very quiet on this waste of taxpayer dollars; almost as if this is ‘business as usual’ in the business of building road infrastructure.
When the Department of State Growth were provided with a $1.5 million dollar budget for road safety improvements on the Huon Highway, they started with a turnoff lane into the Willie Smith Shed in Grove. $750,000 was used up from the overall budget, and then some. Following the completion of the road widening into the Willie Smith Shed in May 2019, either a design or a construction stuff up was soon identified by members of the Huon Valley community who found they were unable to navigate the road safety barrier with their bicycles.
During a session of Budget Estimates in June 2019, Shane Gregory, General Manager, State Roads said:
Shane Gregory, GM State Roads
“That is an error and we are looking at the options to resolve it because it was never intended to be a very narrow shoulder. We have maintained the lane that went through and we have a turning lane that meets the relevant standards. This is an error we need to rectify, we are working through the solution to that now and it is likely that the barrier will come out.”
Rosalie Woodruff MP asked Gregory “When will that be rectified,” and he replied “We would say within the next month or so.”
Twelve months later and work was finally underway to make good the bungle.
When Tasmanian Times sought clarification on whether it was a design issue (Burbury Engineering), or a road construction issue (Stornoway), a departmental spokesperson advised us:
“The original design did not adequately provide for cyclists.”
The design work costs on this project came in at $73,000. The same spokesperson advised: “Typically the design activity is between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of the total cost of the works. The design [for the Willie Smith road safety turnoff] cost falls within this range.”
To fix the bungle the safety barrier was torn down, a section of the road was widened with an additional 1.2m of pavement and bitumen, and a portion of the original barrier was reinstalled.
This additional cost of $380,000 was slated to come out of the original $1.5m budget. Tough luck for the other projects further down the road which included the proposed road safety turnoffs into the Honey Pot, Kate Hill Wines and Reid Fruits.
Following an intervention from Tasmanian Times the $380K is now coming out of some other DSG statewide budget and the impact of the bungle will presumably now not be felt within the Huon Valley.
But how do you spend $380K?
The average Joe driving past only sees a handful or more of high-vis workers armed with shovels and brooms, some fancy machinery, a lollipop man (or woman), a smattering of supervisors, and perhaps even a surveyor or two.
Believe it or not, there were major design costs involved in the removal and relocation of the safety barrier.
Another $48,000 went on design. This is after an initial design cost of $73,000 before the bungle.
A DSG spokesperson explained: “The proper and compliant removal and re-installation of the barrier required further design work in regard to earthworks, drainage and road safety consideration for accesses and sight lines.”
It appears there were no penalty fees for the bungle; just slug it to the taxpayer and get it right the second time around.
And the costs just kept mounting.
There is a curious project management fee totalling $30,000 payable to State Growth?
And rather than the lollipop ‘slow’ man (or woman), a VMS system (flashing variable message signs) along with the additional 380m long new line marking used up a further $113,000.
The original drainage system of an open ditch drain, rubble and some under driveway pipes came in at $77,000 but then an additional $25,000 was needed because of the bungle. The drain is certainly quite effective in flushing money away.
The cost for landscaping the first time around only cost $4,000, but after the bungle another $12,000 was required. The planting of the poplar trees within the neighbours boundary, as a show of good faith for removing the former 100 year old poplars, was $9,000 and in the original $750K.
The on-site project management was $29,000 along with a contract administration fee of $17,000 … all the paper work one presumes – again, this is just for the bungle.
It’s fascinating stuff (for some of us) to therefore calculate that $241,000 was consumed in design fees, management fees and administration fees.
The costs for the actual removal and relocation of the barrier, some pavement and bitumen, the fencing, and drainage modifications were only $139,000.
Let’s hope there is someone in an office somewhere with a keen eye on how our taxpayers money is spent on our state road projects.
And for those who have a deep interest in how to spend $750,000
Of interest in this spend is an allocation of $73,000 for a Telstra relocation. When DSG were questioned about why they needed to remove the poplars and why couldn’t they widen the road on the Willie Smith side, the response was they would have to relocate two power poles – and that is almost impossible and would cost far too much money. Their second reason provided was the old shed alongside WS is heritage listed.
That excuse however proved to be incorrect.
Regardless, relocating a telephone cable and chopping down 100 poplar trees is obviously easier than moving a couple of power poles.
