| Niminjarra Highway |
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| Tuesday, 08 July 2008 22:58 |
 The Niminjarra Highway inches forward, with the completion late last year of the feasibility study into the project. The estimated construction costs range from the Shire’s estimate of $6 million (based on $50,000 per kilometre) to estimates of $9 million from other industry sources. This high cost estimate has inspired a rethink of the proposed construction method. Rather than using a professional road construction company, the road could be built as a training exercise involving the Martu. This means that the road would be built more slowly, but it also means that many more Martu will be able to learn “on the job” than originally envisaged. Essentially each intake of trainees would work on a stretch of road, learning on the job and building the road at the same time. The training program, developed in coordination with TAFE, would aim to train at least 20 Martu every year for the next five years in a range of skills such as operation of construction equipment, road construction and maintenance, plant operations, automotive vehicle servicing and pre-entry training to work on the mines. Before road construction can commence, some important preliminary work needs to be done and this is being scheduled over the next few months. This work includes: ❖ Confirmation of the final alignment at the top and bottom end of the road. ❖ Pegging the centre line in a detailed survey of the alignment. ❖ Completion of a water study to identify water sources along the route.The heritage and environment surveys will follow. |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 21 August 2008 05:51 |