Call for local workers on ruined road
ANGRY residents have taken umbrage with the hiring of outside contractors involved with a damaged section of Millaa Millaa-Malanda Rd near Tarzali.
Last Wednesday, the road tarmac melted in the heat, disrupting traffic and damaging tyres on a number of vehicles.
Hill state KAP MP Shane Knuth said councils should be given first recommendation for road works tenders.
“I’ve raised the issue with (Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey) and we have had it in regards to contractors from the south, or (who) are not local, getting tenders and not doing a proper job,” he said.
“We have local contractors here that have the capability and the technology that have worked on roads like this for years … Instead of putting focus on the best product and workmanship, that is being compromised.”
Dennis Bonadio, owner of Atherton-based earthmoving company Bono’s Excavations, said local contractors rarely received a look-in on projects.
“They put the tender out to a standard but it is a completely different lot of works done at half the rate,” he said on Face- book. “The weather wasn’t extreme. They are lowering the standards and cutting costs.”
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the maximum temperature on the day the tarmac melted was 23.3C.
Colas Queensland (based at Hervey Bay) has undertaken the resealing roadworks.
Transport and Main Roads district director Sandra Burke said the company involved had been operating in North Queensland since 2010.
“All companies in Queensland which hold a valid TMR sprayer certificate can tender for these reseal works,” Ms Burke said. “We are working with the contractor to investigate the issue.
“We are also monitoring two other sites on Palmerston Highway and Kennedy Highway, near Upper Barron Rd, which also experienced some stripping.”