Transport restriction on over-mass and over-length operation in NSW is hindering business. Independent MP calls for government action
By Brad Gardner | August 12, 2011
A stringent transport restriction on over-mass and over-length items in NSW is hindering business and should be reviewed, Independent MP Greg Piper says.
The Lake Macquarie representative has taken the plight of Structural Concrete Industries Australia, a specialist designer and manufacturer of precast and prestressed concrete, to NSW Parliament to gain a commitment from government to look into the matter.
Structural Concrete Industries is currently producing 166 girders for the Bulahdelah Bypass, but it is banned from transporting the items on a section of the Pacific Highway during school holiday periods.
Piper says the restriction will impose a 10-week loss of production in total and that the company’s production capacity will be affected if finished jobs cannot be cleared from the yard.
Because the over-mass and over-length vehicles supplying girders for the project are required to travel with police and company escorts between 1am and 5am, Piper says there is no reason to suggest they will affect school holiday traffic.
“Structural Concrete Industries Australia appears to be the victim of an unnecessarily bureaucratic approach to what is either a very minor problem or perhaps no problem at all,” he says.
“If the overnight and early morning transport of large precast items were allowed to resume almost no-one would notice, but the viability of this industry would be enhanced and some of the state’s largest infrastructure projects would benefit.”
Piper wants Police Minister Michael Gallacher to investigate the matter and develop a solution to what he claims should be a simple problem.
Structural Concrete Industries Australia told Piper the restrictions were imposed by NSW Police in a sudden manner and without consideration of the flow-on effects.
He says the company has attempted to contact police and reach a compromise but its efforts have so far been unsuccessful.