Quarries not ready for 'shovel-ready'

The quarrying sector is warning of the potential for cost blow outs on shovel-ready projects, as demand for aggregates and sand soars and because of poor planning. All the major parties have pledged huge increases in infrastructure spend as a key policy to address Covid-19's economic impact, but the national quarry organisation says not enough is being done to identify and plan available rock resource. It's citing the massive over spend on Transmission Gully as an example of what can happen when authorities don't plan in advance for the mega requirements of projects on that scale. Wayne Scott is chief executive of the Aggregate and Quarry Association.