Doubts over the completion of Wagga’s levee bank have been fuelled after council revealed they were intentionally delaying construction due to “quality assurance” concerns.
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However, progress has significantly stalled.
Since November 2017, the contractor, Central West Civil, has commenced works at Flowerdale Lagoon but has progressed only to the Gobbagombalin Bridge Roundabout.
Now, council general manager Peter Thompson has expressed “quality assurance” concerns with ongoing construction.
“The construction of the city levee project is a significant major piece of public infrastructure,” he said.
“(However), council oversight of the works identified concerns about quality assurance issues in relation to construction.
Mr Thompson said council was currently working through issues with Central West Civil under the terms of the contract but admitted an April completion date for stage one was “unlikely”.
“It is unlikely that the completion date of April would be achieved as council is deliberately delaying work until a solution is resolved in relation to ensuring the quality specifications are able to be achieved,” he said.
“Council will continue to oversee the project to achieve a high standard in the finished product.”
Tenders for stage two of the Main City Levee upgrade will be withheld until current issues relating to “achieving compaction standards” are met and it is unclear whether Central West Civil will apply.
Mr Thompson has not ruled out engaging their services again and believes project completion is achievable before 2019.
“The tender process will be an open public call process and all contractors, including the current contractor, can participate in that process,” he said.
“It remains council’s goal to complete the project by the end of this calendar year – whether or not this is achievable will depend upon the outcome of the stage two tender process.”
North Wagga Residents Association president Dan Grentell was unsurprised by the delays.
“This whole project has been an absolute shambles from the get-go,” he said.
“Every time you go to council, you get a completely different response and this is no exception.”
Mr Grentell said he still harboured reservations over’s council’s “mismanagement” of the floodbank.
“They should have consulted more people.”
Central West Civil was also contacted for comment on Tuesday but did not respond.