By Corey Everitt
Lang Lang may continue to be an epicentre of truck movements feeding raw materials to Melbourne’s insatiable construction sites after the State Government recently approved a new, massive sand quarry in town.
This is the first new sand quarry in the vicinity of Melbourne to gain approval in over 20 years – according to the State Government as they made the announcement on Wednesday 17 July.
Lang Lang already has a number of quarries, this addition will extract an estimated 13 million tonnes of sand that will feed the increasing demands from Big Build projects and urban growth.
The level of trucks passing through Lang Lang has been an ongoing concern for a number of years, even for Cardinia Shire Council.
The number of trucks seem to only increase through Westernport Road and McDonalds Track – the main arteries of the town centre.
The council said to the Gazette in February that heavy vehicles comprise almost half of the traffic through McDonalds Track.
In response, council pushed for a Lang Lang Bypass to divert trucks while big construction works continued to grow.
President of Lang Lang and District Business and Community Group, Peter Smith at the time said residents need this concern to be addressed.
“If the Lang Lang area is contributing to the Pakenham projects, then it is considered a significant contribution outside of Lang Lang, the broader region,” he said in February.
“In that case, then surely there is some compensation for things that have to change, but it seems like no one wants to do anything about it.”
The quarry is a proposed expansion by Aurora Construction Materials (ACM) group, it will reportedly employ 30 people in Lang Lang.
ACM produces primarily concrete while also providing fill and crushed rock materials by ‘redefining green’ where they recycle waste rock within the construction industry.
The Lang Lang Sand quarry will further meet the growing demand for high quality concrete
The State Government said quarry production in Victoria has grown by 14 per cent over the last three years, reaching an annual production record of 73.6 million tonnes of rock, sand and gravel.
This is the first project to be approved via the Development Facilitation Program unit, set up to fast track approval for high-priority projects.
