Brisbane Airport Link

Corrs Project team advised BrisConnections on all aspects of its successful bid, including negotiation of the project deed with the State, the design and construction sub-contract, and the operations and maintenance contract with the other project participants.

The project involved a $1.2 billion initial public offering of securities in BrisConnections and a $3 billion debt financing package.

Airport Link, a 6.7km multi-lane electronic free-flow toll road with dual 5.25km tunnels, will be Australia’s largest ever toll road infrastructure project by design and construction cost. The project is a priority transport infrastructure project for Brisbane and is designed to meet the needs of Brisbane’s rapidly rising population.

Corrs are the lead transaction lawyers for the BrisConnections consortium, which will deliver the Airport Link, Northern Busway and Airport Roundabout Upgrade projects. The Consortium, which includes Leighton Holdings, Macquarie Capital Group, Thiess and John Holland, was announced as preferred bidder for the project in May 2008.

Corrs advised on all aspects of its successful bid, including negotiation of the project deed with the State, the design and construction sub-contract, and the operations and maintenance contract with the other project participants.

The transaction was unusually complex. The design and construction sub-contract, for example, is the largest construction contract for an Australian Public-Private Partnership (PPP). It provides for the simultaneous design and construction of the publicly-financed and owned Northern Busway, the privately-financed and owned Airport Link toll road and publicly-financed and owned Airport Roundabout Upgrade.

Each type of work had its own challenges – the payment, environmental, approval, tenure and access regimes were different for each work package and had to be separately addressed in the subcontract.

Gold Coast Rapid Transit Project

Finance for the $1 billion Gold Coast Rapid Transit (GCRT) Project was confirmed on 1 June, signalling the start of the first Australian public private partnership to be completely financed by foreign funds.

The project demonstrates the benefits of PPPs to governments and establishes a positive precedent for future public transport projects and possible extensions to the GCRT.

The GoldLinQ consortium will build and operate the 13-kilometre light rail system that will connect the key coastal corridor centres of Griffith University, Gold Coast University Hospital, Southport, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has said the project will “deliver light rail to the Gold Coast and more than 6,300 direct and indirect jobs”.

From the project’s inception in 2007, Corrs advised the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads on how to get the most value for money during bid evaluations, government stakeholder consultations and in finalising the project contracts with GoldLinQ.

Corrs also worked on tenure options, legislative amendments, planning and approvals, project contracts, risk allocation and procurement strategies.

Corrs’ advice helped to navigate unique challenges stemming from the GCRT being the State’s first light rail system in more than 40 years, the first public transport PPP, and the only Queensland PPP to be mainly constructed above ground through an established urban environment.

The Gold Coast Rapid Transit will operate in a tightly-constrained urban corridor with heavy traffic, resulting in close contact with the local community and businesses. Corrs has drawn on its national PPP experience to develop innovative measures to mitigate the project’s impact.

Innovation has been essential to the GCRT Project because many of the legal, policy and commercial issues confronted have no precedent. For example, this is the first time a project of this type has involved rail safety accreditation - a situation further complicated by moves towards national harmonisation, and likely national regulation, subjecting safety accreditation to new, untested Queensland legislation.

Corrs also provided extensive advice to the Queensland Government on legislative amendments required to deliver and operate the project.

The project is being delivered by the State of Queensland in partnership with the Australian Government and Gold Coast City Council. This means it has been necessary to finalise and document funding arrangements between the three tiers of government and to ensure the project contracts meet local and federal government funding requirements.

Corrs has consulted extensively with a broad range of Queensland Government departments and authorities to develop project documents that meet the requirements of all Government stakeholders.

Early construction works have commenced with passenger services scheduled to commence in 2014.