The federal government stumping up more than $176 million for the planned River Street bridge frees up state funding for other projects, but they may not be at Dubbo, Dubbo MP Dugald Saunders says.
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The state government in 2018 allocated $140 million for the new high-level crossing over the Macquarie River.
This week the federal government committed to the project - which has grown in cost to an expected $220 million - and the state government's contribution was set at $44 million, about $100 million less than its original allocation.
Mr Saunders said the balance of the original state allocation "essentially... continues to be available in the transport portfolio".
It meant funding would be able to flow to other projects that were "underfunded or needed extra funding", he said.
But he reported there was no guarantee the cash would come to Dubbo.
"So the money isn't earmarked for Dubbo or the member, it's earmarked for the project," he said.
"I don't think there should be an expectation that we have 100 million bucks up our sleeve because originally the state government said $140 [million]. The project is $220 [million], we've still tipped in $44 [million] and the feds $176 [million], the project is still funded, and any other projects that need to be looked at being funded would have to go through a whole process of evaluation before they'd be funded."
The MP reported of his efforts to improve transport links, including "a couple of other fairly major things that are about to start".
They included overtaking lanes between Dubbo and Narromine, an election commitment he had made, he said.
Dubbo towards Wellington was also on his mind, and he said he would be working with Transport [for NSW] to work out those "pinch points and where maybe there can be some extra work done".
"And I'm also very much a believer in the need for a south bridge, that's something Dubbo Regional Council has done some work on.
"I've asked for a bit more detail... [about] the possibilities around the locations of where that south bridge may be. And at some point there would be an expectation that council would seek funding from the federal government and probably the state government to help look at that, and that's probably one of the next projects that council would want to bring forward as far as a major link across the city."
Faye Wheeler
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
