ON Wednesday 9 September the State Government Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Mr Paul Toole, accompanied by Federal member for Cowper Mr Pat Conaghan and local Member for Coffs Harbour Mr Gurmesh Singh, announced the commencement of talks with the construction industry on building the Coffs Harbour bypass.

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Minister Toole said, “We want to get the benefit of this early interaction with the construction market so that we can get shovels in the ground sooner and the bypass delivered as quickly as possible.”

The $1.8B project is expected to take around five years to complete, providing 12000 jobs, with up to 2000 of those in Coffs Harbour over that time.

Once completed the bypass is expected to divert 12000 vehicles per day out of the centre of town.

Mr Singh said, “I’m excited by the fact that local companies have a real shot at getting involved in this history-making project that will benefit the community for generations to come.”

The Roads and Maritime Department is already engaged with local contractors and some businesses are seeing increases in enquiries for jobs on the project.

Owner of GBES Training Mr. Graham Bryan told News Of The Area, “We are already experiencing increased demand for training and certification upgrades from local people looking to gain employment with the bypass project.

It is a great boost for both us and particularly young people locally, and comes at a time when it will really help with employment in our area.”

GBES provides training to support industry including Civil and Earthmoving training needs.

By David TUNE