Government to foot $1.5 million repair bill for Gungahlin pool

The government had recently accepted $400,000 payout to cut ties with the builder of the $28.7 million facility, after ACT Sports Minister Yvette Berry conceded a legal battle with the builder would have been unsuccessful.

Tiles in the pool, which was only completed in 2014, started to fall off in June 2020. It has meant the pool has been closed for 12 months, after it was initially forced to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Berry has said many times the pool would be opened by December this year but the contract for the repairs of the bill runs until October 2022, which has sparked fears the pool could be closed for longer.

Canberra construction firm Kynetic has been given the $1.5 million contract to fix the pool, where all tiles will have to be removed and replaced. The contract for the repairs was signed on Wednesday.

Kynetic has previously completed repair work on the Erindale pool and was approached by the ACT government to do the repairs.

The pool's closure was shrouded in secrecy as the government did not reveal the exact cause as to why the tiles were falling off.

It since emerged technical experts, employed by the government, were unable to uncover the reasons for the problem tiles.

Instead, they said it could be caused by a number of reasons including problems with the adhesive used to attach the tiles, the movement of the tiles or the construction of the tiles.

As an exact cause was unable to be determined, the government undertook secret negotiations with the builder, ADCO Constructions. Those negotiations resulted in the $400,000 payout.

The government had previously refused to give an indication of how much repairs would cost, citing commercial negotiations.

Ms Berry told the Gungahlin Community Council meeting on Wednesday night of the Kynetic deal but said she didn't know what the repair costs would be.

"We believe they are probably the best contractor to do that work," she said.

"All the contract information will be available on the ACT government's website so you can go into that and look at the price. I just don't have the price from the time I walked in until now but that will be available soon on the government's contract website."

Liberal MLA Leanne Castley, who is a member in the Gungahlin-based seat for Yerrabi, expressed concern about the October 2022 expiry date for the tender.

"The debacle continues," she said.

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Ms Castley was also scathing that the cost was not disclosed by Ms Berry at the Gungahlin Community Council meeting.

"The contract on Tenders ACT puts the bill at $1,519,200 but minister Berry [on Wednesday] night could not tell the Gungahlin Community Council the price," she said.

"The government approached Kynetic to do the job and signed with them [on Wednesday], so it does not appear credible the Minister did not have the cost at the meeting I attended last night."

Three reports about the pool's problem were produced by structural engineers and tiling experts but these have not yet been made public.

Ms Berry told the Gungahlin Community Council the government had reached out to the report authors to see if they would give permission for the public release of the reports.

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