Outer Ring Road tender is chamber chief’s legacy

The local contribution to the Bunbury Outer Ring Road project will “resonate for many, many years,” according to outgoing Bunbury Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Mark Seaward. Mr Seaward, pictured, is set to vacate his position after three years to pursue an opportunity at South Regional TAFE, but considers the negotiated tender of the major infrastructure project the highlight of his time at the chamber. As outlined in the tender, $300 million of the $800 million project must be spent with local companies, with the chamber also redefining what constitutes “local” to ensure as much money as possible remains in the region. “As far as Main Roads and Government is concerned, local jobs are any local business, State business, Australian business, or any business we have a free trade agreement with,” Mr Seaward said. “So we redefined the geographical area of ‘local’. Business were graded on a scale between 30 and 100 per cent to establish how local they really were. “100 per cent local businesses live here, work here, their business is here and they derive most of their income from here,” Mr Seaward said. “We took this to industry and said, realistically, how much of this can we do? “We came up with a number of $300 million and we wrote it into the tender. “What is going to happen at the end of the project is we will have a skills-based legacy for this region. “We will have businesses who have thrived through the BORR that are now experts in civil construction, traffic management or experts in something else. “They will then be able to bid on other roadworks around the State. “The highlight of my three years here is that I know, when I move onto my TAFE job, over the next couple of years because of the work we did with Main Roads, a minimum of $300 million is going to be spent locally.” Mr Seaward said he felt it was the right time to move on, having helped guide members through the effects of the pandemic. “Perversely we find ourselves in a much better place than we did pre-COVID, people suddenly had to focus on what it is we have here,” he said. “When I started here I said, ‘I don’t think anybody should stay longer than three years because you can become bigger than the job, and the job is very important’. “Through adversity, the value of something like the Chamber really shines through. “Together we can achieve more than if we work apart,” he said.