Blog Day 181 - 22 September 2020

 The ghost of a corgi went into a bar and asked for a rum and coke and the barman said "sorry we don't retail spirits here".

One of the issues with the pandemic is that we have taken our eyes off the ball of the other problems and issues of mismanagement besetting this state.  One of the issues that seems to have been put on the backburner is the budget blowout on the Westgate tunnel project.  This project was proposed to the state government by Transurban and Transurban was given the go ahead by the government without any meaningful feasibility study or competitive tendering process.

Once the contractor started digging the tunnel they discovered that the soil contamination was worse than originally planned on and it was going to cost an extra one or two billion dollars or so to get rid of this heavily contaminated soil.  (Now remember that they are digging a tunnel through an area that has been the site of heavy industry and dirty industry for close to 150 years, and they are surprised that there is contamination????).  Now they are saying that there is a further blowout in costs to the tune of a further billion dollars due to "the challenge of relocating pipes for major utilities".  Haven't they heard of "ring before you dig".  Apparently the government has an obligation to formally notify the utility companies of the "project's special status" and failed to do so therefore the utilities were not obliged to comply with the contractors requests to move the pipes etc adding to time and cost blowouts.

To cut a long and sad story short the contractors are suing Transurban for misleading or deceptive conduct and Transurban are trying to pass the extra cost onto the state government.  Remember we are talking a cost blowout of $3 billion dollars on a project that was originally going to cost $6.7 billion.

And another thing, no matter what happens we will be paying for this for years to come.  The state government did a deal with Transurban that Transurban is able to charge tolls on it's other Melbourne based toll roads for an extended period to pay for the Westgate tunnel project.  So even if you don't use the Westgate tunnel but if you use say the Tullamarine freeway you will be paying for the tunnel and for many years to come. 

A bit of a hiccough in Victorian daily infection figures with 24 reported in the last 24 hours, being an increase from 11 and 14 for the previous two days.  Lets hope it drops tomorrow.  We reported 3 more deaths in the last 24 hours.  There are 83 Victorians in hospital due to the virus with 8 in ICU and 5 on ventilators.  

The rolling 14 day average is still declining which is good news;

21/09: Metro 34.4, Regional 1.6, Total 36.0
22/09: Metro 32.8, Regional 1.6, Total 34.4

Corona Virus Daily Stats – Stage 4 Lockdown – 2 Week Extension – Day 9

Date

Aus Infected

Aus Increase

Vic Infected

Vic Increase

Aus Death

Vic Death

Aus Hospl

Vic Hospital

Aus ICU

Vic ICU

13/09

26,648

41

19,841

41

810

723

221

116

26

11

14/09

26,686

35

19,870

35

817

729

137

122

17

12

15/09

26,739

50

19,911

42

816

729

141

118

18

11

16/09

26,772

52

19,943

42

824

737

139

117

17

11

17/09

26,807

35

19,971

28

832

745

127

107

16

11

18/09

26,864

51

20,015

45

837

750

127

90

16

11

19/09

26,885

21

20,036

21

844

757

108

89

15

8

20/09

 

 

 

14

 

 

106

94

12

8

21/09

26,909

11

20,063

11

851

763

109

92

10

6

22/09

26,942

33

20,076

28

854

766

107

83

8

8















Date

World Infection

Daily Increase

World Deaths

Daily Increase

14/09

29,181,882

243,787

928,267

3,709

15/09

29,433,477

251,595

932,390

4,123

16/09

29,727,389

293,912

939,186

6,796

17/09

30,025,096

297,707

944,680

5,494

18/09

30,340,279

315,183

950,429

5,749

19/09

30,691,801

351,522

956,421

5,992

20/09

30,986,826

295,025

961,400

4,979

21/09

31,228,511

241,685

965,037

3,637

22/09

31,479,718

251,207

969,230

4,193


And now the stage 4 lockdown 2 week extension remembers.

Remember: to follow the legal instructions of a police officer, not to get carried away with false optimism (again), if you are going to run a road block do it when it is raining, tell the truth, don't go to any protests, avoid the City of Casey, ring before you dig, especially if it is a $7 billion project.
 

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