The Australian and New South Wales (NSW) Governments have announced that the government-owned land at Arncliffe has been selected for carrying out major tunnelling works as part of the new M5 project.

The Arncliffe site, which is currently used by Kogarah Golf Club, will be used as an access point for underground tunnelling construction activities.

The site will be located on Roads and Maritime Services and Rockdale City Council land.

The twin tunnels, which will run from Kingsgrove to St Peters, will more than double the lane capacity along the corridor and reduce travel times for hundreds of thousands of motorists every day.

"WestConnex is one of Australia’s largest transport infrastructure projects and will generate more than $20bn worth of benefits to the Australian economy."

NSW minister for roads, maritime and freight Duncan Gay said: "The Arncliffe location was the most suitable across all shortlisted tenders, eliminating residential property acquisitions and enabling future upgrades.

"The location removes the need for residential acquisitions and enables early work to be done now for a future WestConnex southern extension, which would bring communities in southern Sydney even closer to the CBD.

"Our priority in delivering WestConnex is to minimise land acquisitions, which is why two-thirds is being built 100ft underground, as well as on government owned land wherever possible."

The New M5 link is a major part of the WestConnex motorway project, which is one of the government’s key infrastructure priorities.

Australia’s Federal Assistant Minister for Infrastructure Jamie Briggs said: "The current M5 East is a traffic nightmare for the 100,000 motorists who sit in congestion every day.

"The new M5 will accommodate an extra three lanes in each direction and provide another route for traffic from the airport and port to Western Sydney.

"WestConnex is one of Australia’s largest transport infrastructure projects and will generate more than $20bn worth of benefits to the Australian economy, while creating almost 10,000 jobs during the construction phase alone."

The WestConnex Delivery Authority is currently working closely with the Kogarah Golf Club to reduce disruption.

The project’s preferred contractor and design will be selected in the coming months, while work expected to start in mid-2016 with the link set to open to traffic in 2019.