EastLink was a $2.5 billion project (Linking Melbourne Authority 2009: p.3) built to ease urban traffic congestion and shorten vehicle travelling times along what was perceived to be a strategically important corridor between Mitcham and Frankston (Allen Consulting Group 2006: p.5) in Melbourne's south-east. It was expected by the Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority, the agency responsible for providing traffic projections, that the tollway would benefit one and a half million people, particularly those living in Melbourne's eastern and south-eastern suburbs (Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority 2008).
The project comprised 17 interchanges over 45 kilometres of dual carriageway multi-lane toll road (Allen Consulting Group 2006: p.IV), 88 bridges (Partnerships Victoria 2009) and six pedestrian overpasses (Allen Consulting Group 2006: p.IV). It also included four railway station upgrades (Office of the Premier 2005) and was the State's second fully-electronic tollway after CityLink (Partnerships Victoria 2009). At the time of construction, it was the largest development of its kind in Victoria (Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority 2008) and one of Australia's most significant PPPs in terms of project size (Partnerships Victoria 2009).
The objectives of this venture included (Minter Ellison 2003: p.15):
- Linking together Transit Cities and activity centres in the Mitcham-Frankston corridor;
- Decreasing travelling times, whist improving travel time reliability in Melbourne's east and south-eastern regions;
- Improving access in manufacturing and industrial areas for commercial vehicle use in and around the Mitcham-Frankston corridor;
- Reducing traffic build-ups in the surrounding area;
- Incorporating state-of-the-art road safety facilities during freeway construction as part of an ongoing operational and safety program; and
- Making provision for future integration of surrounding transport networks into the project.
According to original projections, EastLink is expected to contribute $15.9 billion to the Victorian economy by 2031 through savings in travelling time and benefits to business (Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority 2008).
In 2003, the Victorian Government established the Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority, a statutory body to manage the bidding process for contracting a private partner to procure, deliver, operate EastLink (Linking Melbourne Authority 2009: p.1; Partnerships Victoria 2009). Although the functions and powers of the Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority have since been transferred to Linking Melbourne Authority and then to VicRoads (see 'Change of consortium members / change to public partner's agency authority', below), they extended to, for example, the evaluation of private consortia tender submissions, administering the project's legal and commercial agreements and ensuring compliance with the provisions of the Concession Deed (Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority Act 2003: p.9-10).
In 2004, ConnectEast, a private sector consortium, was awarded the concession for a period of 39 years (Linking Melbourne Authority 2009: p.1), after which the motorway and related assets will be handed to the State (ConnectEast 2009: p.26) at no cost. ConnectEast was thus contracted to design, construct, operate, maintain and repair both tollway and off-tollway (Minter Ellison 2003: p.17). The consortium partners consisted of:
- Macquarie Bank, the project financier (Partnerships Victoria 2009);
- A partnership between Thiess and John Holland, engaged for the design, construction work and the provision of a tolling system (Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority: 2008: p.10);
- Sociedad Iberica de Construccionnes Electricas, a sub-contractor of Thiess and John Holland, hired to develop the tolling system (Benefiits Consulting: 2008: p.4); and
- Transfield Services (Australia) Pty Ltd, contracted to manage the highway and undertake associated repairs (Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority 2009a: p.59).
With work commencing during 2005, EastLink was completed in June 2008 (Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority: 2008: p.10), within budget and some five months ahead of schedule (Partnerships Victoria 2009).