ARM CHAIR CRITIC MODE : - Enabled -.
This has been a real rib-tickler in Sydney for the past 9 months. The former Carr/Egan State government sold out Sydney-ites to the CCM Consortium by doing a PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) deal. It's like a gold Amex for the state government but someone still has to pay. Well, the election is only 10 months away and the heat is turning up on the state government to solve it because the half-price toll period offerred by the CCT operators finishes up in a couple of days, and there is no resolution in sight.

The State government has made a proposal to solve the problem, but the CCM Tunnel chief, Graham Mulligan has rejected outright. So now that the negotiations have broken down, it looks likes there will be a lengthy legal/conflict resolution process to come into effect.

Barristers are rubbing their hands with glee as the State government announces that it will re-open roads to alleviate congestion caused by road closures originally written into the contract by the CCM consortium. Note that these road closures were a result of a $94 Million, "business consulttation fee" paid by the CCM to the RTA. But the contract has compensation clauses that can be enacted by the consortium, if the consortium feels the government is subverting the project's profitability. By re-opening roads to reduce congestion, it also reduces the amount of traffic going into the tunnel.

It all reeks of incompetence and "deals". Here you have a state government trying to avoid infrastructure costs and looking at these PPP contracts like a "deer in the headlights", and a tunnel-operator who has forgotten that the tunnel's primary purpose  is their to service the community, not just their P&L statements. No one seems to be considering the interests of the community at the moment...