Portfolio Delivery Management Partner

About the Portfolio Delivery Management Partner

Water Infrastructure NSW has partnered with WaterSecure, a joint venture between KBR and Aurecon, to manage the planning and delivery of the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment's large-scale water infrastructure portfolio. The first tranche of the portfolio alone includes over $1 billion in capital expenditure on new dams across NSW with a range of further projects under development.

Along with the knowledge and experience of Water Infrastructure NSW, WaterSecure will provide additional expertise, technical sophistication and capacity to oversee the delivery of multiple major projects.

Purpose

Over the last few years, NSW has been experiencing one of the most severe droughts on record across a vast geographical area. There have been extremely low inflows into our water storages across the state and dam levels in some parts of NSW have reached critically low levels. While rain in some areas has eased drought conditions, Water Infrastructure NSW is continuing to plan water supply and drought resilience projects to ensure water security into the long term.

A comprehensive portfolio of critical water security projects is being developed by Water Infrastructure NSW including the new and augmented dams recently announced by the NSW Government. It will also include new pipelines and weirs and improved water supply infrastructure across NSW.

In late 2019, the NSW Government sought organisations with capabilities in design, planning, project management, construction and a range of related services interested in participating in this significant opportunity to play a part in the planning and delivery of water assets throughout the state. WaterSecure was appointed following a highly competitive and rigorous tendering process.

Based on a concept similar to the one pioneered during preparations for the London Olympics, the business partnership will provide Water Infrastructure NSW with the necessary increased capacity to deliver a range of major projects concurrently.

The portfolio

The Portfolio Delivery Management Partner approach is a major step forward in developing and delivering greater water security for communities across NSW.

A first tranche of major projects has already been announced by the NSW and Australian Governments in recent times. These include the first large-scale investments in dam building in NSW in decades. New or upgraded dams will be built to increase storage capacity in key regions, including the Wyangala Dam Wall raising, the Dungowan Dam and the final business case for the Upper Mole River Dam.

Funding has been allocated for these projects and they will go ahead as the first major components of the portfolio.

Other projects in drought affected areas are in the advanced planning phase and more projects will be progressively added to the portfolio – these will be announced as they progress through the relevant approval and funding processes.