Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast has hit back at claims by Labor Federal and State MPs that the State Government has provided no “region specific support” to address the backlog of road repairs on the Central Coast.
Member for Robertson, Gordon Reid, said while the Federal Government had committed $40M for Coast road repairs in last week’s budget, there was no guarantee the region would receive any of the $50M available in the next round of the State Government’s Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair Fund.
“The Coast is crying out for all levels of government to chip-in and address the deteriorating conditions of local roads,” Reid said.
“The Federal Government has come to the table, now we need the State Government to do the same.
“Residents contact my office frequently needing assistance with road maintenance and often tell me that there is a new saying across the Central Coast, that we used to drive on the left, but now we drive on what’s left.
“I’m calling on the State Liberal Government (to) secure funding to repair our local roads.”
State Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch backed Reid up, saying the Government has “forgotten about the Central Coast”.
But Crouch said the region has received unprecedented funding over recent years for road infrastructure from the NSW Government.
“This includes over $7.5M in funding from the NSW Government through the Fixing Local Roads and Fixing Country Bridges Programs, including the rehabilitation of Wattle Tree Rd, Holgate, upgrades to Gorokan Dr, Lake Haven, and the rehabilitation of Gavenlock Rd, Tuggerah – just to name a few,” he said.
“Over the three rounds of the Fixing Local Roads program, the Central Coast has received over $4.2M in funding for 10 projects.
“Nine out of 10 projects are complete with the final intersection, Jilliby Rd and Hue Hue Rd, due for completion (in) December.”
Crouch said millions of dollars had been provided to Central Coast Council to help repair local roads, through the NSW Government’s Resilience Fund to fix local road infrastructure off the back of the recent flood and storm events.
“This is on top of the NSW Government’s $50M Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair round that Central Coast Council is eligible to apply for,” he said.
Crouch said funds provided in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 State included: $27.8M to continue the upgrade of the Pacific Hwy at Lisarow; $12.6M for Manns Rd intersection upgrades at Narara Creek and Stockyard Place; $7M to commence construction at Blackwall Rd and McMasters Rd; $26M to continue the widening of Pacific Hwy between Parsons Rd and Ourimbah St, Lisarow and $25M to continue planning and commence construction at the Tumbi Rd intersection on Central Coast Hwy.
“This does not include the $84M that the NSW Government has contributed towards the $420M Pacific Hwy through Wyong upgrade,” he said.
“Funding that the NSW Government provided has already been utilised through planning, but we have not heard a peep from the Federal Government regarding their share since the Federal Budget was announced last week.”
Terry Collins
I don’t know who’s responsible or who has the cash but the commentary from Adam Crouch is somewhat misleading; it talks about road upgrades primarily and smoother/safer traffic flow projects. As locals we need the roads locally that lead to these major highways fixed, not improved flow but the holes fixed would be great; presently to reach the Pacific Highway or Central Coast Highway we first have to navigate the cart tracks locally. The statements on funding are a cop out because they have not fixed the holes – simply that’s what we would like.