THE Mandurah Road footbridge is still scheduled to open at the end of this month, despite the fact the arches have been sitting dormant for weeks.
The arches were due to be raised and installed in April, but since its delivery from a Chinese factory and on-site assembly, works on the main portion of the bridge have been at a standstill.
When asked by Councillor Fred Riebeling at the May 19 council meeting about the progress of the footbridge, a City of Mandurah officer stated the completion date of June 30 remained unchanged.
With concerns raised by the public about the current structural integrity of the arches, City of Mandurah chief Mark Newman said the council was working with the contractor, McConnell Dowell Constructors, to ensure all aspects of the bridge works were compliant with the contract requirements.
When asked what was causing the delay on raising the arches, a City spokesperson addressed rumours that there was something faulty with the welding.
“The documentation supplied under the contractor’s quality assurance processes for the project together with independent testing has demonstrated that the welding is compliant with the required standards,” a City spokesperson said.
“The lift dates are currently being rescheduled and further information will be provided as soon as possible.”
The spokesperson said it was the contractor’s decision to get the structure fabricated in China, and there was “no doubt” that cost played a part in this.
McConnell Dowell Constructors declined to comment on the issue, requesting all questions be directed to the City.
The Mandurah Road footbridge is intended to provide safe and convenient pedestrian and cyclist access between the east and west sides of Mandurah Road and the Mandurah train station.
Council entered into a guaranteed maximum price of $6.026 million with McConnell Dowell last year, which means the extra cost associated with the dormant arches will not be passed on to the City.
“The contract price covers all aspects of the actual bridge construction works, including the costs associated with the 600-tonne crawler crane required for the completion of the project,” the spokesperson said.
Australian Steel Institute Western Australian manager James England said non-compliant foreign steel was a big issue in the industry, often leading to delays in construction.
He said issues which had arisen in other projects included the incorrect use of welding and the utilisation of the wrong steel alloys.
“It’s a huge risk to public safety,” Mr England said.
“If you start deviating from the standards then you need to do something to compensate that and if they haven’t talked to their engineer and done that, then that’s a problem.
“The myth is that it’s cheaper but that’s just it; it’s a myth.
“Most of the time you end up doing things twice to fix the problems.”
Mandurah MLA David Templeman said he had been contacted by numerous local residents and some industry representatives with regard to the footbridge project’s progress.
“I am concerned that as Council has already made a significant contribution to the project – [as has] Federal Government and State Government through Landcorp – and that if there are manufacturing issues with the steel construction, then this needs to be made public,” he said.
“The other big question is why were these steel components not able to be constructed in Australia?”
