Thompson's Irrifab, the lead contractor on Cowra Council's Billimari Bores project, says it has been a massive boost for the company.
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Irrifab Director Greg Thompson, said it was an exciting moment for the company to have convinced council they had the ability and staff to be awarded the project.
"We've been here for 35 years, primarily as an irrigation/agricultural business for 25 of those years, and for the last 10 years we've started doing a lot of civil construction pipeline work and pump stations," he said.
"We've done work for Bathurst City Council, Forbes Shire Council, Mudgee Shire Council, Dubbo Shire Council, Narrabri Shire Council, Warrumbungle Shire Council and Hilltops Council over the last 10 years.
"It was only recently Cowra Council awarded us a tender to refurbish their town water supply pump station at the river and from that, it gave them the confidence that we had the ability to carry out this major project work.
"We still had to go through the tender process but obviously we ticked the boxes for ability."
The project has been broken into two parts with Irrifab given the contracts for both the pump station at the bore fields and the 26km pipeline to Cowra.
Mr Thompson said the projects were some of the biggest ones the company had undertaken since starting civil construction.
"They (Cowra Council) split the project up a bit to save money which did eliminate some of the competition because it wasn't presented as big a project," he said.
"Council are also now in discussions for us to do the internal section of the pipeline through town.
"But from a scope side of things, as far as the infrastructure that is involved, it's probably one of our bigger projects.
"The pump station side of it we hope to have constructed by May, the pipeline to be completed by the end of this year and the internal section Council wants completed by the end of the next financial year.
"This project keeps us here for the next 18 months, most of our projects are about four months long, the one we are going to do in Hilltops is a 12-month scale, so this is up there as one of our biggest project timeframes as well."
He said the fact that the project was locally based was also a huge positive for their staff.
"Being away it is a lot harder on our men and staff, a lot of them were very pleased that we got a local contract," he said.
"We just finished a job at Coonabarabran for a pipeline and our normal roster is 10 days on four days off when they are away.
"So they were glad to have that pipeline finished and can come home for a while."
After ongoing rain delays, Mr Thompson said there was plenty of activity now getting underway at Jumbuck Lane which was a boost to all the contractors involved.
"All the contractors we are using, the concreters, bricklayers, the roofers and all that are all locally based in Cowra," he said.
"We've been lucky and have been able to keep working through COVID because we are classed as essential service.
"But the cost we've had to bear to do that work has been extensive, when we were in Coonabarabran we had to self isolate in the motel rooms, every time we left the site we'd have to be tested before we were allowed back on site.
"Then there are all the other affiliated costs that come that you aren't getting paid for, but we were better off than the restaurants and other industries that just had to close completely.
He said the company had been lucky to grow through the last 12 months and the future looked bright for more large scale projects.
"It is a drought assistance program and a lot of people have been thinking 'why are they spending all this money on this pipeline when the river is flowing," he said.
"But I know what comes after a flood and it will give the town security of water supply for many, many years to come.
"The indication is the government is going to invest more money in these rural pipelines, to give more security, so we are hoping this work will be ongoing.
"We've doubled our staff in the last 12 months and we've invested heavily in specialized plant and equipment, like under road boring equipment, vacuum trucks for excavating and exposing pipelines in the ground, we've bought two new excavators.
"We're not making any money yet but we're geared up and believe the work will keep coming now we've got to this scale."
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