The Labor Governmnet in Victoria will finally cancel the public private partnership (PPP) contract for the East West Link project.

On 7 January 2015, the board, staff and management of the Linking Melbourne Authority were advised that the authority, directed by the Napthine Government to manage the PPP project, is to be disbanded. Employees from the authority will be offered redeployment within the Victorian Government.

Tim Pallas, acting Minister for Roads, has written to the CEO and Chairman thanking them, and the staff of the authority, for their service:

"During the previous Liberal Government, the men and women at the Authority did their best in difficult circumstances, working on a project that had a completely flawed business case. Their skills will be better used helping the Andrews Labor Government remove 50 of our most dangerous and congested level crossings and building the transport system Victorians voted for."

The East West Link project is a 18-kilometre cross city connection north of the Melbourne central business district.

The project was scheduled to be operational by 2019 - 2020.

The state Treasury had estimated that A$1.1 billion would be the cost of breaking the project contract by March 2015. The bill would cover costs already incurred by the preferred bidder and lost profits over the 25-year life of the contract.

The project was awarded on 9 September to the East West Connect consortium, which was formed by: Capella Capital, Lend Lease Engineering, Acciona Infrastructure Australia, Bouygues Travaux Publics, Lend Lease Services, Lend Lease Infrastructure Investments, John Laing, Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), and Bouygues Construction Australia.

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. It is a leading financial centre in Australia, as well as the Asia-Pacific region.