Tablelands flood road contracts worth a combined $23.51 million have been awarded to five civil contractors, placing a substantial regional road-recovery program into the hands of businesses operating across Far North Queensland.

Tablelands Regional Council awarded six separate flood-damaged road restoration packages on 23 July 2026 to Cheshire Contractors, Bono’s Excavations, Saw Civil Profiling, Watto’s Earthmoving & Machinery Hire and Stratos Civil.

The six awards have a combined value of $23,513,222.18 including GST. Saw Civil Profiling secured two of the packages, while the other four contractors each received one package.

The program is commercially significant because it distributes work across several named regional contractors rather than placing the entire restoration scope with a single major delivery business. This creates a wider network of potential employment, plant, materials, transport and subcontracting activity across the Tablelands and surrounding Far North Queensland region.

Tablelands flood road contracts awarded across six packages

The Tablelands flood road contracts form part of Council’s program to restore roads damaged during severe weather and flooding.

Rather than issuing one large construction contract, Tablelands Regional Council divided the work into geographically defined zones and a separate culvert package. This approach allows several contractors to work across different areas at the same time and may assist Council in progressing a large number of road repairs more efficiently.

The six awarded packages are:

• Cheshire Contractors Pty Ltd: $6,390,001.93 for Flood Damaged Roads Restoration Zone South 1;
• Bono’s Excavations: $6,284,873.32 for Flood Damaged Roads Restoration Zone East 1;
• Saw Civil Profiling Pty Ltd: $5,322,654.47 for Flood Damaged Roads Restoration Zone East 2;
• Watto’s Earthmoving & Machinery Hire Pty Ltd: $3,923,262.59 for Flood Damaged Roads Restoration Zone West;
• Saw Civil Profiling Pty Ltd: $1,207,394.45 for Flood Damaged Roads Restoration Zone East Sealed; and
• Stratos Civil Pty Ltd: $385,035.43 for the Silver Valley culvert package.

All figures listed above include GST and are taken from Tablelands Regional Council’s public tender register.

Cheshire Contractors secures largest package

Cheshire Contractors received the largest individual package, valued at approximately $6.39 million including GST.

The award covers the Zone South 1 component of the flood-damaged roads restoration program.

Cheshire Contractors is a locally owned civil construction, earthmoving and heavy machinery hire company that has operated since 1979. The contractor advertises experience across roadworks, earthworks, subdivisions, drainage and regional infrastructure projects throughout Queensland, Cape York and the Torres Strait.

The company has previously undertaken flood-damaged road restoration work for Tablelands Regional Council following the Northern and Central Queensland Monsoon and Flooding Event between December 2022 and March 2023.

Cheshire Contractors states that the earlier work involved restoring multiple roads in remote and mountainous locations, requiring detailed coordination and road-rehabilitation activity.

The new $6.39 million award adds another substantial regional road package to the company’s Far North Queensland project history.

Bono’s Excavations wins $6.28 million eastern-zone package

Bono’s Excavations secured the Zone East 1 package for approximately $6.28 million including GST.

The Atherton Tablelands business describes itself as a locally and family-owned excavation and earthmoving contractor established in 2007.

Bono’s promotes civil and earthmoving capability supported by experience developed across three generations of involvement in the civil construction industry.

The company has also previously secured road and gravel-related work from Tablelands Regional Council, including northern gravel resheeting packages.

The latest award provides Bono’s Excavations with one of the two largest packages in the overall program and places the local contractor on a substantial flood-recovery workload.

Saw Civil Profiling secures two Tablelands flood road contracts

Saw Civil Profiling received two of the six Tablelands flood road contracts, with a combined value of approximately $6.53 million including GST.

The larger package is worth $5,322,654.47 and covers Zone East 2. The second package, valued at $1,207,394.45, covers the Zone East Sealed restoration works.

Securing both an eastern restoration package and a separate sealed-road package gives Saw Civil Profiling the largest combined allocation across the five appointed contractors.

Tablelands Regional Council has previously awarded road-related work to Saw Civil, including its 2025–26 gravel resheeting program.

The two new awards indicate continued demand for the contractor’s road construction, rehabilitation and pavement capability across the regional network.

Watto’s Earthmoving wins $3.92 million western-zone package

Watto’s Earthmoving & Machinery Hire has been awarded the Zone West package for approximately $3.92 million including GST.

The package is expected to involve restoration work across flood-affected roads in the western portion of the Tablelands Regional Council area.

Regional road-recovery work commonly requires flexible access to graders, excavators, rollers, water trucks, tipper trucks and other mobile plant capable of operating across dispersed rural road locations.

For an earthmoving and machinery-hire contractor, a geographically defined restoration package can involve significant coordination of equipment, personnel, materials and daily travel between multiple work fronts.

Stratos Civil receives Silver Valley culvert package

Stratos Civil secured the Silver Valley culvert package for $385,035.43 including GST.

Although this is the smallest of the six awards by value, culvert work is an important part of improving road resilience and restoring drainage capacity after severe weather.

Tablelands Regional Council previously awarded Stratos Civil a $307,941.99 contract for the Bew Road culvert replacement in April 2026.

The latest Silver Valley package gives the contractor another defined drainage and road-infrastructure project within the region.

What the flood road restoration work may involve

The precise scope varies between the six packages and should be confirmed through the individual contract documents. However, flood-damaged road restoration programs may involve a combination of sealed and unsealed road repairs, drainage renewal and pavement reconstruction.

Likely activities may include:

• removing failed or unsuitable road material;
• repairing flood-damaged road formations;
• gravel resheeting;
• pavement reconstruction;
• road grading and reshaping;
• bitumen-seal and asphalt repairs;
• drain and table-drain restoration;
• culvert repair and replacement;
• erosion and scour repairs;
• embankment stabilisation;
• shoulder reconstruction;
• roadside vegetation management;
• traffic management;
• material haulage; and
• reinstatement of signs, guideposts and road furniture.

Actual activities will depend on the damage identified on each road and the restoration standards applying under the funded recovery program.

Regional road recovery backed by major budget allocation

Tablelands Regional Council has allocated $31.2 million in its 2026–27 Capital Works Program for flood recovery and restoration works across the regional road network.

The council’s adopted budget includes a total capital works program of $68.1 million, with flood-recovery roadworks representing its largest individual capital allocation.

Council has also identified $53.6 million in combined State and Australian government funding across its broader budget, with most of that external funding associated with disaster recovery and flood restoration.

The newly awarded $23.51 million package represents a substantial portion of the road-recovery activity planned for the financial year.

Why the Tablelands road network needs continuing restoration

The Tablelands road network includes rural, agricultural and remote roads connecting farms, regional communities, tourism destinations and service centres.

Severe rainfall and flooding can damage road pavements, wash away gravel, block drainage systems and undermine culverts and road shoulders.

In agricultural regions, damaged roads can also affect:

• movement of produce and livestock;
• access for farm machinery;
• freight and supply deliveries;
• school transport;
• emergency-service access;
• tourism traffic; and
• daily travel between smaller communities and regional centres.

Restoring the network therefore has broader economic and community importance beyond repairing the physical road surface.

Five contractors create a broader regional engagement opportunity

The Tablelands flood road contracts have strong industry-engagement potential because the awards name five separate contractors.

Each contractor brings its own employees, suppliers, clients, subcontractors and professional network. This gives the project a broader audience than a single contract awarded to one major business.

For regional construction markets, dividing a large program into several packages can also make delivery more accessible to locally established contractors that may not pursue a single contract covering the entire region.

The package model may allow work to begin across multiple zones simultaneously while distributing plant and workforce demand across the market.

However, Council and the contractors will still need to coordinate interfaces involving specifications, program priorities, traffic management, quality requirements and consistent project reporting.

Supply-chain opportunities linked to the Tablelands flood road contracts

The six packages may create demand across the regional civil construction supply chain.

Potential areas of participation may include:

• earthmoving and excavation;
• grader and roller operations;
• plant and equipment hire;
• tipper and truck hire;
• quarry products and gravel supply;
• pavement materials;
• concrete and precast drainage products;
• culvert pipes and headwalls;
• bitumen sealing;
• asphalt supply and placement;
• traffic management;
• surveying and construction set-out;
• geotechnical testing;
• quality assurance and material testing;
• erosion and sediment controls;
• environmental monitoring;
• fuel and lubricant supply;
• mobile mechanical support;
• tyres and heavy-equipment servicing;
• worker accommodation;
• site amenities; and
• regional construction logistics.

These are potential work areas only. The announcement does not confirm that individual subcontract packages remain available, and the appointed contractors may already have established delivery teams.

Suppliers and subcontractors should use official contractor procurement channels and provide concise capability information relevant to the specific package and geographic zone.

Local materials and equipment may support faster delivery

Flood restoration programs typically involve large volumes of gravel, pavement material, drainage products and imported fill.

Access to suitable local materials can reduce haulage distances, improve delivery efficiency and keep a greater proportion of project expenditure within the regional economy.

Contractors may also need local access to:

• quarries and gravel pits;
• fuel suppliers;
• heavy vehicle maintenance;
• mobile hydraulic and tyre services;
• surveyors and testing laboratories;
• temporary accommodation; and
• transport and float services.

Road packages spread across several zones can place significant demand on project logistics, particularly where crews must operate in remote or mountainous areas.

Workforce implications for Far North Queensland

The combined $23.51 million program may support employment for plant operators, labourers, supervisors, truck drivers, mechanics, surveyors, engineers, traffic controllers and project-support personnel.

Regional contractors may use a combination of permanent employees, local subcontractors and short-term project workers depending on the delivery schedule and available workforce.

Skills likely to be relevant include:

• grader and excavator operation;
• road construction and maintenance;
• drainage installation;
• culvert construction;
• traffic control;
• civil supervision;
• surveying;
• quality assurance;
• environmental management;
• heavy vehicle operation; and
• mobile plant maintenance.

Coordinating six work packages at the same time may increase competition for experienced civil workers and suitable plant across the Tablelands and wider Cairns region.

Why this award could perform strongly for Project Watch

The Tablelands flood road contracts combine several elements that are attractive to an industry audience:

• a combined value above $23 million;
• six confirmed contract packages;
• five named winning contractors;
• clear regional construction activity;
• civil, earthmoving and transport relevance;
• potential employment and supply-chain demand; and
• recognisable Far North Queensland businesses.

The multiple-winner format also gives employees, suppliers and customers associated with each contractor a reason to interact, congratulate the businesses and share the news through their own professional networks.

Rather than presenting the announcement as a generic council recovery program, the stronger Project Watch framing is that five contractors have now secured defined packages inside a $23.51 million regional delivery program.

Tablelands flood road contracts strengthen local delivery pipeline

The July 2026 awards provide a significant addition to the civil construction pipeline across the Atherton Tablelands and Far North Queensland.

Cheshire Contractors, Bono’s Excavations, Saw Civil Profiling, Watto’s Earthmoving & Machinery Hire and Stratos Civil now have confirmed positions within the flood-damaged road restoration program.

The work will help restore road access, drainage performance and transport reliability across several areas of the Tablelands Regional Council network.

The package structure also provides a visible example of a major regional program being distributed across several contractors rather than being concentrated under one delivery entity.

Businesses can follow other Queensland civil, transport and regional infrastructure awards through the Bowen Basin Index civil engineering category, the transport category, the regional economy category and the broader Project Watch news hub.