"We welcome this funding very happily."
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
That was what the chairman of the Alliance of the Western NSW Councils (AWC) and mayor of Narromine Shire Council, Craig Davies, said about the announcement of $500 million for rural and metropolitan roads.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet made the road network flood recovery funding announcement during a visit to Molong on Tuesday.
"It is significant for rural and regional NSW that the NSW government will finally fund our roads more appropriately," councillor Davies said.
The AWC which consists of 13 rural and regional councils located west of the state made their plea for the state government to allocate more funds to rural and regional roads earlier this month, stating they were "losing hope" they could ever get funding for reconstructing their road networks.
"This is welcome news for all of us that the premier was able to get that money so that work can begin in what could be many years of long-range projects to restore our roads to an acceptable level," Mr Davies said.
The 94 councils have been urged by the premier to apply for the $500 million, with allocations to be determined based on the size of the road network in each Local Government Area.
READ MORE:
Speaking on behalf of his shire, Mr Davies said Narromine would be able to receive an estimated $3.3 million to top up the $570,000 allocated to the shire in the first tranche of funding announced by the Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Sam Farraway.
"This money will be going somewhere and helping way over, and if we are correct by our estimates, it's five times more than we received from the original funding," Mr Davies said.
"The shires and councils welcome this funding for the recovery that we needed for our road to be back in order. As one bureaucrat says it's for the betterment so that we are ready next time there is a flood.
"It's a good start and we are very pleased."
The premier was accompanied by his deputy premier Paul Toole, Sam Farraway, Orange deputy mayor Gerald Power, Cabonne shire mayor Kevin Beatty, Lithgow mayor Maree Statham, Blayney mayor Scott Ferguson and others from other western NSW towns at Molong.
The process to apply for the funding has also been streamlined, it was confirmed.
Mr Farraway launched a $50m recovery fund in October, but that was widely panned for being an inadequate allocation of funds.