{"id":530917,"date":"2026-03-10T11:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530917\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T11:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T11:29:09","slug":"contractor-warned-to-step-up-and-finish-sydneys-maligned-m6-motorway-or-face-the-consequences-new-south-wales-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/530917\/","title":{"rendered":"Contractor warned to \u2018step up\u2019 and finish Sydney\u2019s maligned M6 motorway or face the consequences | New South Wales politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two years after large sinkholes opened above the construction of a $3.1bn Sydney<\/a> motorway tunnel, the consortium charged with the project\u2019s completion has been issued a notice forcing it to continue the job or face possible legal consequences.<\/p>\n

The New South Wales<\/a> roads minister, Jenny Aitchison, said contractor CGU had on Monday been issued a \u201cnotice of default\u201d, forcing it to recommence work on the 90% complete M6 tunnel by 1 May.<\/p>\n

Excavation on the tunnel in Kogarah had been on hold since the sinkholes formed in March 2024 and a \u201cchallenging\u201d geological feature was discovered close by, with works eventually grinding to a halt last June<\/a> after the contractor claimed a design solution could not be achieved.<\/p>\n

\"DroneDrone vision shows sinkhole beneath Sydney building \u2013 video<\/p>\n

At the time, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, criticised the unilateral move to down tools, claiming the contractor remained responsible for designing and building the tunnels.<\/p>\n

Aitchison said the government had taken \u201cdecisive action\u201d after attempting to remedy the impasse, including by presenting an engineering solution to CGU, a joint venture of CPB, Ghella and UGL.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTransport for NSW has issued a notice of default to CGU after more than two years of work to try to resolve the issues affecting this project,\u201d she said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe department has made clear there is a technical solution available within the current contract \u2013 and it is a reasonable community expectation that it is delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new twin 4km tunnels, connecting Sydney\u2019s south to the wider motorway network, were approved in 2019 and scheduled to open in 2025. That date was pushed back to 2028 after the sinkholes opened<\/a>, then workers discovered a \u201chigh-angle reverse fault\u201d in the bedrock in the same 245-metre section of the project.<\/p>\n

Map of M6 stage 1<\/a><\/p>\n

In NSW transport estimates on Tuesday, Aitchison said CGU had concerns it could not deliver the project safely and viably, but she expected the company to meet its obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are holding the contractor to account to their commitments that they made when they signed the contract,\u201d she told the committee. \u201cI\u2019m hopeful that we can come to a resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she could not provide information about additional costs or a possible finishing date because of ongoing legal negotiations, but the premier had previously ruled out spending any additional money on the project.<\/p>\n

Nor had the contractor approached her office to make a formal request for more funding for the project, Aitchison said.<\/p>\n

Minns ruled out any further funding on Tuesday when asked whether the government may need to compromise if CGU was unable to cover the \u201cadditional $1.5bn required to fix the tunnels\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. This contractor \u2026 took the risk on design and they took the risk on construction,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry it hasn\u2019t worked out, but at the end of the day, they have to make good on it \u2013 they\u2019re a big international infrastructure company, they signed a deal with the NSW government. I promise you, if they came in under budget, they wouldn\u2019t be sending us a cheque back, so they\u2019re going to have to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked by the Nationals MLC Nichole Overall whether the government was \u201cprepared to let the project collapse, effectively letting a $3.1bn project turn into a white elephant\u201d, the minister said she would not prejudice legal discussions \u201cwith comments made here to satisfy your scaremongering\u201d.<\/p>\n

The NSW government has so far spent $5m on legal fees in the dispute, the committee heard.<\/p>\n

CPB, as the lead contractor for CGU, was approached for comment.<\/p>\n

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Show more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two years after large sinkholes opened above the construction of a $3.1bn Sydney motorway tunnel, the consortium charged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-530917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}