In a few months' time, Sydney residents will be able to use a new 25-metre-deep metro station, built thanks to the Belgian experts from construction company Besix Watpac.
Belgian Princess Astrid and her ministerial delegation visited the construction site on Monday morning, guided by Besix CEO Pierre Sironval, after a traditional Aboriginal welcome ceremony.
Belgian company Besix and its Australian subsidiary Watpac, which it acquired in 2018, are finalising the construction of one of Sydney's six new metro stations at Barangaroo, in the city centre and along the harbour. The contract, worth some A$217 million (around €130 million), aims to install the platforms, fit out the station and its entrances, as well as the road and public infrastructure, including pedestrian access and cycle paths, by next year.
The challenge is considerable, given that this complex infrastructure is taking shape in an already highly urbanised area of the city of 5 million inhabitants, in the immediate vicinity of the ferry docks, and in a place that is culturally very significant for Australia's Indigenous population.
"Companies first drilled the tunnel and created a sort of large empty concrete box, which they handed over to us. After that, we carried out the detailed studies, ensured coordination, and installed all the technical premises," said Sironval. "We are contributing our Belgian know-how with the help of our Watpac colleagues who know the local market and have access to it."
Olympic preparations
With several new metro lines due to be built in Sydney, Besix is "trying to position itself for other similar projects," said Sironval. In 2032, the Olympic Games will be held in Brisbane, capital of the Australian state of Queensland.
The Belgian group is not new to the country, having already taken part in the construction of stadiums (in Townsville), hospitals, prisons, a new vaccine factory (in Melbourne) and buildings for the Australian army.
Princess Astrid pictured during a visit to the Barangaroo metro station in Sydney, Monday 23 October 2023. A Belgian delegation is on a 10-day Economic Mission to Australia from 19 to 28 October 2023. Credit: Belga/ Benoit Doppagne
Australia is Besix's biggest market outside Europe, with total sales worth of €800 million. The group employs around a thousand people there, out of a total workforce of 12,000.
In Barangaroo, the Belgians from Besix had to take into account the rich indigenous heritage of the area, inhabited by the Gadigal people of the Eora nation for almost fifteen thousand years before the arrival of the first fleet of British settlers in 1788.
Representatives of these groups welcomed Princess Astrid and the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hadja Lahbib, to Barangaroo with a "smoke ceremony", during which native plants are set alight to generate smoke, accompanied by singing. A welcome ceremony was also held to initiate the royal visit.
