Transpower lets Auckland contracts worth $173M

Transpower lets Auckland contracts worth $173M

Dec. 24 (BusinessDesk) – State-owned national grid operator Transpower Ltd. has let around a third of the contracts by value for a critical part of the $500 million Auckland transmission upgrade to a group of Australian and European suppliers.

The successful tenderers were Australia’s Olex Cables, and a consortium of German manufacturer NKT Cables, ASX-listed UGL Ltd. and U.K. infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty PLC.

The Nkt/BBUGL consortium won $82 million in contracts to manufacture and install underground 18 kilometres of cable between Pakuranga in south-east Auckland to Hobson St, in the central business district, using both public roadways and the tunnel owned by Vector Ltd.

The Olex contract, worth $91 million, will run 19km of cable between Hobson St and Albany, on the northern outskirts of Auckland.

The project is a key part of Transpower’s North Auckland and North (NAaN) project to strengthen the grid through the country’s main population centre.

The upgrade was delayed when the now defunct Electricity Commission initially knocked back approval for the project, but Transpower now expects construction to be completed in 2013, a year ahead of schedule.

First cable deliveries are expected in late 2011, with construction work commencing in mid-2011.

(BusinessDesk)

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