Narrandera Shire Council has discontinued the Narrandera-Leeton Airport parallel taxiway project after refusing to accept any of the tender submissions for the bulk earthwork, drainage and associated services required for construction of the taxiway due to all tendered prices exceeding the allocated budget.

The purpose of the construction of the new parallel taxiway was in response to Narrandera-Leeton Airport being selected by the Australian Airline Pilot Academy (AAPA) as a site to extend its pilot training program. Without a new parallel taxiway, the addition of AAPA aircraft would result in delays using runway 14/32 because of the need for aircraft to stop and backtrack on the runway.

“However, no formal commitment for the establishment of a permanent full scale training facility at Narrandera has yet been received,” said Council General Manager Shane Watson said.

Council will advise the Commonwealth that it is unable to accept the grant of $1,110,157 under the Regional Airports Program Round 2 and will return any funds received.

The balance of Council funds will be transferred into the internally restricted Infrastructure Replacement and Renewal Fund.

Council successfully obtained funding in 2021 under the Regional Airports Program Round 2 for construction of a sealed parallel taxiway and run up bays, associated line marking, LED compatible lighting, airport signage and additional drainage works. These works were initially costed based on the knowledge of road construction and local costs.

Mr Watson said the Council had hoped to have this project tendered and awarded well before this time, however due to several factors this was not possible.

Tenders were called and 10 companies submitted proposals for delivery of this project.

“However the tenders as submitted all came in well above the pre-tender estimate and resulted in the project being financially unachievable to Council,” he said.

Council resolved in August 2021 to accept the grant of $1,110,157 under the Regional Airports Program Round 2 for the construction of a parallel taxiway at the Narrandera-Leeton Airport and to allocate the 50% co-contribution.

Tenders were issued in late October and there was a mandatory inspection required with the tender, which was held on Monday November 6 2023 with a total of 17 companies in attendance.

There were 10 tenders received, of which all were considered as being conforming. They ranged from $7,293, 020 down to $3,244,130. The tender panel made the decision to not undertake assessment of any of the tenders as they all exceeded the pre-tender estimate by nearly 200 per cent.

The tendered works did not include sealing, line marking and ancillary items which would require an additional $500,000 to undertake.

Mr Watson said the budget for this entire project was set at $2,220,000 comprising a grant of $1,110,157 under the Regional Airports Program Round 2 and matching funding from Council. The pre-tender budget for the works included within this tender was $1,700,000. The lowest tender was nearly 200 per cent higher.

“At this time $60,484 has been spent on development of the design plans and tender which is not eligible to be covered under the grant funding,” he said.

“The Commonwealth will be advised and any grant funds already received will be returned, with the remaining Council funds, after deducting the expenditure to date, will be returned to the internally restricted Infrastructure Replacement and Renewal Fund.”

Mr Watson pointed out the risks associated with discontinuing the project.

These included harming the attraction for the AAPA establishing a permanent training facility at the site and the return of grant funding was always considered problematic and must be carefully handled to ensure that the relationship between all parties is not impacted in the future.

“However, the bigger risk would involve allocation of the required funds and potential over investment should the original plans not result in the attraction of AAPA,” he said.

The Council will now advise the Commonwealth that it is unable to accept the grant of $1,110,157 under the Regional Airports Program Round 2 and return any funds received.

Places the balance of Council funds into the internally restricted Infrastructure Replacement & Renewal Fund. 

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 21 December 2023.