The Melbourne West Gate Tunnel project has so far been hit by toxic soils, trade disputes, long delays and a $ 4.5 billion cost explosion. He now faces another, albeit smaller, headache: a fight over a billboard that was torn down to make way for the new road.
Advertising giant Oh! Media is demanding $ 8.7 million for the loss of its billboard in Spotswood, in a dispute that has reached the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Melbourne’s West Gate Tunnel will not be completed until the end of 2025. Credit: Jason South
The Department of Transportation initially offered only $ 120,000 when it compulsorily acquired the land in 2018 to begin construction on the tunnel, which will pass under the Maribyrnong River and link the West Gate Freeway with CityLink to Docklands.
But lawyers for Arnold Bloch Leibler’s advertising firm have claimed he was entitled to compensation for the “destruction” of his business on the site, including 20 years of lost profits from mammoth signs.
The department increased slightly in November last year, raising its bid to $ 250,000 to pay for a new sign to be built elsewhere along the West Gate freeway.
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The advertising company also turned down this offer. The ASX-listed group said it was open to accepting a new sign as part of its compensation, but the department’s proposed location was difficult to see from the freeway, which meant that “advertising would look serious committed and commercially unviable “.
In any case, it appears that a mobile phone tower had already been built on the site, according to court documents.
The Department of Transportation sent the dispute to the Supreme Court on May 24 to resolve the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act. Both the department and oOh! he declined to comment while the matter was before the court.