Drilling success marks major step for VUGA

CRITICAL infrastructure works connecting the Valla Urban Growth Area (VUGA) to Nambucca Valley Council’s existing water and sewer networks have reached a major milestone, with a key package of horizontal directional drilling works successfully completed.

The final component of the works was finished last week when a 450mm sewer gravity main, made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe and measuring approximately 200 metres in length, was successfully pulled through an underbore beneath the Pacific Highway.

The operation was carried out by specialist pipeline drillers from a compound near Old Boggy Creek Road on the eastern side of the motorway, with the pipe installation completed at around 2.45pm.

Nambucca Valley Council General Manager Bede Spannagle said the completion of these critical underground connections places the project in a strong position to progress to the next stage.

“These infrastructure installations put us in a great position to start selling Stage One industrial lots from about mid to late 2026,” Mr Spannagle told News Of The Area.

“We’ve seen great construction progress at VUGA, which means its 14 large-scale industrial blocks, many with highway frontage, will be ready to hit the market this year.”

Mr Spannagle said the successful underboring of the PN16 pressure-rated HDPE pipe followed an earlier milestone in December, when the project’s water trunk main was installed using the same horizontal directional drilling method.

“Watching the pipe being underbored last week was quite an exciting sight and builds on the contractor’s first successful drilling effort back on 18 December,” he said.

Council has invested $17 million into the enabling infrastructure required for the subdivision, with funding support of $11.2 million provided to date by the Australian and NSW Governments.

Mr Spannagle said further government investment would be required to unlock future residential stages of the development.

“While we’re in a great position to realise Stage One, which is the industrial precinct within the subdivision, we need additional support from both Federal and State Governments if we are to open up residential land and help ease the local housing crisis,” he said.

VUGA is strategically located midway between the Central Coast–Sydney corridor and the South East Queensland–Brisbane region, and between the major regional centres of Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie.

The site is well placed to support employment growth and contribute to meeting the demand for an additional 41,300 homes identified in the North Coast Regional Plan 2041.

Local contractor AJ Civil Projects has played a significant role in delivering the project’s civil works.

Bulk earthworks are now complete, with approximately 140,000 cubic metres of material moved to shape Stage One’s 14 industrial lots and install internal pipelines and stormwater drainage.

The contractor has already installed around two-thirds of the subdivision’s sewer pipeline along Red Ash Road and at the project entry, which will connect into the sewer gravity main installed beneath the Pacific Highway.

From there, sewage will be gravity fed to a new pump station to be constructed near Old Boggy Creek Road, adjacent to Giinagay Way, before being pumped via a new rising main to the Nambucca Heads Sewerage Treatment Plant for processing.

AJ Civil Projects has also been awarded the contract to construct the new sewage pump station, which will involve the procurement, excavation, installation and commissioning of the pump station components.

All new sewer and water infrastructure required for VUGA Stage One is expected to be completed by around the third quarter of this year, marking another major step forward for one of the Nambucca Valley’s most significant industrial development projects.

By Mick BIRTLES