Federal Budget delivers $625m more to SA road upgrades from Hahndorf to Goodwood and state’s north, securing 2600 local jobs
The PM is set to reveal which SA roads will be overhauled as part of a plan to spend hundreds of millions hiring thousands of Australians to get to work on public projects.
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City and country road upgrades across SA will get a $625m cash injection from Tuesday Federal Budget, in abid to secure 2600 local jobsfrom the COVID recession.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison will tomorrow reveal highly-anticipated details of a national infrastructure pipeline plan that will be a Budget showpiece alongside income tax cuts. Projects include a $200m upgrade for Hahndorf and its access routes.
Funding parcels of $136m have been set aside for both the duplication of Main South Road between Aldinga and Sellicks Beach, and a Princes Highway package including rest stops and overtaking lanes. The long-stalled sealing of the notorious Strzelecki Track, a key oil and gas freight route in SA’s north that is arguably the state’s worst road, will receive $100m.
In Adelaide, the Goodwood and Torrens rail junction projects will get an extra $13.2m.
South Eastern Freeway safety upgrades are in line for $28m in new money. A planned Victor Harbor Road upgrade will also get $12m in funding.
Several of the projects already have cash committed, adding up to a total $775m spend. Mr Morrison said the Coalition Federal Government had committed more than $9.8bn for infrastructure in SA since coming to power in 2013.
Past federal budgets have allocated $2.7bn to finishing South Road, to be matched by the state, but a design has not been finalised.
“The substantial injection of funding delivered in this year’s Budget shows the Government is serious about laying the foundations for an infrastructure-led recovery from the economic shock of the global pandemic,” Mr Morrison said.
“We have been working closely with state and territory governments to invest in the infrastructure that is ready to go.
“This latest investment will provide another boost to the local economy by supporting an estimated 2600 direct and indirect jobs across the state.”
Mr Morrison said the Federal Government had invested an additional $780m into shovel-ready projects across SA since the pandemic set in and shook the economy.
The announcement is likely to spark questions about how big a slice of the new national infrastructure spend SA is receiving, and Opposition calls for clear construction timelines.
While the Federal Government is a major spender on local infrastructure projects, the work itself is overseen at the state and local level and often through the use of contractors.
Premier Steven Marshall’s government is already spruiking a $2bn stimulus package that includes spending on “shovel-ready” infrastructure as well as cash grants and tax cuts. However, the SA Opposition says he’s been too slow to get many projects off the ground.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said: “Infrastructure means jobs”. “It means livelihoods, it means stronger local communities and it means building a better and more secure future for our nation,” he said, while pledging to use local business in the builds.
The SA transport department has already undertaken analysis of possible Hahndorf upgrades, and identified challenges from growing traffic on the township’s main road. An unreleased planning study jointly funded with the Federal Government is to identify options to address congestion, connectivity, freight efficiency and safety with a focus on the main street.
The Strzelecki Track is a 472km unsealed rural road that links the towns of Lyndhurst to Innamincka in the north east of SA. It is a vital supply link for major oil and gas facilities located near Moomba, and an essential transport corridor for outback communities as well as tourism and pastoralists. The track is subject to regular closure due to flooding.
The state budget next month is also expected to include further infrastructure funding.