Jason Thomasson has been preparing his civil construction company for an "industrial boom" that was expected with the start of Rockhampton's billion-dollar ring road project.
But he has had to put the hiring and training of new staff on hold, after the federal government delayed the central Queensland project due to a cost blowout in tender submissions.
"It's absolute madness," Mr Thomasson said.
"There are a lot of major projects in this area that are winding down … and there are a heap of people who work in this area right now who are looking for the next project.
"We shouldn't be looking for that project, the bloody thing was here. Why are we getting it ripped out from underneath us?"
The Rockhampton Ring Road was due to begin construction in January, but ahead of last week's budget the federal government confirmed the project would be indefinitely delayed.
Member for Rockhampton Barry O'Rourke said tender quotes for the project were about $700 million higher than the original $1.065 billion budgeted for the project.
Mr Thomasson said some people had moved to Rockhampton expecting to work on the project over the next four years.
"2023 was always allocated to start this project … There are people who have come here from all over Queensland [and] Australia," he said.
"They're the people more so than the business owners that you need to worry about because they bought houses to work here for the next four years."
Budget blowout
The Rockhampton Ring Road will include more than 17 kilometres of new road, including 6 kilometres of bridges, to be built through the Fitzroy River floodplain connecting the Bruce Highway south and north of Rockhampton.
It was expected to create 780 jobs for the region and had an initial budget of $1.065 billion, to be split with $852 from the federal government, and $213 million from the state.
Queensland Labor Senator Murray Watt said the Rockhampton Ring Road project would go ahead.
"We are committed to doing it, but we're also committed to doing it using taxpayers' money wisely," Mr Watt said.
"If this overheated construction market can just calm down a little bit, then there actually is the money to pay for it, there are the workers to build it and the materials.
"One of the reasons that tenders are so high is not just the overheated market, but also a lot of the workers are going to have to be flown in from Brisbane.
"There's going to be workers' camps built, they'll be putting pressure on housing markets, it's just it's a really difficult time to be building a project of this size."
Mr Watt said he believed the price of the project could come in under $1.7 billion if construction is delayed.
"I can't predict exactly what the price is going to be, but what I do know is that right now is delivering the highest prices you could possibly imagine for construction projects."
But concreting business owner Craig Zinn said he did not believe costs would fall anytime soon.
He said his company had hoped to provide the project with pre-stressed concrete units and major bridge components.
"I think you're better off biting the bullet and doing it now," he said.
"In 12 months, two years, I think the cost is only going to escalate more, looking at the current trend.
"I've never seen costs go down, they can plateau, but generally I've seen them go up."
Delay estimated to cost economy millions
Apprentices and Trainees Queensland chair David Grenfell said, across six businesses involved in the ring road project so far, it was estimated 172 trainees would miss out on apprenticeships because of the project's delay.
He said he estimated 139 new workers would also miss out on employment and the Rockhampton economy would lose $162 million in wages and revenue over the next three years.
"[They're] bitterly disappointed obviously, 18 months I've been working with a lot of these businesses … so it's really gutted them," Mr Grenfell said.
"Rocky has never seen a billion-dollar job before. They can change lives, these major projects, but to pull this one out when everybody's been gearing up for it, I just don't get it."
LNP Senator for Queensland Matt Canavan has called on the government to start construction as originally planned in January 2023.
"We've now been left with a valley of death for our construction industry … This project is so important not just for the businesses in town … It will help the whole nation have cheaper goods."
