Dubbo City Council has awarded the tender for the upgrade of the Dubbo Sewage Treatment Plant to Cockram Corporation Pty Ltd to the value of $21,596,088 at June’s ordinary meeting of Council.
The upgrade of the Dubbo Sewage Treatment Plant will be the biggest single capital works project ever carried out by Council and will ensure Dubbo has adequate facilities in place to service the needs of a population of up to 55,000 people.
Mayor of Dubbo, Councillor Mathew Dickerson said the upgrade is necessary to address overloading problems currently being experienced by the infrastructure which is operating at full capacity.
“The upgrade of the Dubbo Sewage Treatment Plant will ensure the City’s services keep pace with the growing population and will allow the facility to service a future population of up to 55,000,”
Councillor Dickerson said the services of NSW Public Works have been engaged to manage the construction phase of the project.
“The total expenditure for the upgrade of the Dubbo Sewerage Treatment Plant is expected to be $24 million including construction, project management, insurance and an allowance for contingency.
“This is well under the $29 million budgeted for in the 2014/2015 Operational Plan and Budget and forward budget for 2015/2016 and will allow Council to reduce borrowings for the project.”
The upgrade of the Dubbo Sewage Treatment Plant was the successful recipient of a three percent interest subsidy on a loan of $12 million under the NSW Government’s Local Infrastructure Renewal Scheme.
“Council applied for a three percent interest subsidy on $12 million of the original $23 million borrowings required for the project and was successful, which represents savings of $1.9 million over the term of the 10 year loan.”
The $100 million Local Infrastructure Renewal Scheme (LIRS) provides subsidies to assist councils to help meet the cost of financing their infrastructure backlogs.
