Commuting to and from work isn’t pleasant at the best of times, and can be made even worse when traffic delays make the trip that much longer.
The 120,000 people who travel on Tonkin Highway each day will be glad to know the Tonkin Gap project is expected to shave six minutes off the morning commute and 11 minutes from the trip back home.
These road works will fix a major bottleneck between Collier Road and Dunreath Drive, where traffic reduces from three lanes to two, by widening the highway, building several new bridges, and constructing new shared paths, noise walls and upgraded lighting.
Associated works allow for the METRONET Morley-Ellenbrook Line to run along Tonkin Highway, starting from Bayswater and including stations at Ellenbrook, Whiteman Park, Malaga, Noranda and Morley.
The project is jointly funded by the Federal Government, which is providing $232 million, and the WA State Government, which is chipping in $58 million. Last June, the contract to construct the Tonkin Gap was awarded to Tonkin Gap Alliance, which is made up of BMD, Georgiou Group, WA Limestone, BG&E and GHD.
A project this big has some pretty significant knock-on effects, creating 3,000 jobs. Better yet, the Tonkin Gap Alliance has committed to subcontract to Aboriginal businesses as part of the project, which has recently included Kuuwa supplying vehicles to the project.
Kuuwa was awarded the contract in December, and we are pleased to say we already have Plant & Equipment on site.
Since Kuuwa got started, it has been our objective to help Prescribed Body Corporates create commercial operations to support their people and communities. Being awarded a contract like this is proof that the model works.
The ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????? is committed to ‘???????????????? ???????? ????????????????????????????, ???????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????, ???????????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????? ???????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????’. – Peter Hopfmueller
A big part of the picture connecting indigenous businesses like Kuuwa to projects like this is the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), which the Tonkin Gap Alliance has embraced.
The IPP provides indigenous Australians with more opportunities to participate in the economy by setting targets around the number and value of contracts to be awarded to indigenous businesses. And it has worked – since 2015, more than 2,000 indigenous businesses have been involved in close to 25,000 contracts worth over $3.5 billion.
Kuuwa is proud to be a part of the movement to support indigenous communities through construction projects like the Tonkin Gap.