PPP prison fix tops $372m

THE state government has revealed the final cost of its contract to redevelop the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison is $140 million higher than what had been announced.

In October it announced the public-private-partnership contract to design, build, finance and maintain the new prison upgrade had been awarded to Assure Partners - a consortium including Capella Capital, John Holland, Pindan and Honeywell.

“The new $232 million, mixed-gender facility would provide 350 beds across all security levels, replacing the existing smaller and out    dated Kalgoorlie-Boulder facility,” it said in a statement announcing the award of the contract.

However the Assure Partners consortium has actually been awarded a contract worth $372 million over 25 years, according to tender documents on the government’s Tenders WA website.

The difference in price is due to the government omitting the $140 million being paid for Assure to maintain the building once it’s completed in 2015 - a practice which Treasurer Troy Buswell’s office said was commonplace.

“The state’s budgeted capital cost of the new prison is $232 million, which does not include the facilities management contract costs,” it said in a statement.

“In addition to the capital design and construction costs, taking into account operational costs of the prison, the entire project is valued at $372 million.

“It is usual for the capital cost component of projects to be separately identified, consistent with the separation of capital and recurrent funding in the state budget.”

The redevelopment will involve removing the existing 116-bed Kalgoorlie-Boulder prison, which was built in 1980.