Gympie council to expand Bonnick Rd dump, spend $7m on flood rebuild

An expansion to the region’s near-capacity dump and major flood repair work dominate the council’s ‘to-do’ list in the latest budget. PROJECT LIST HERE:

More than $7 million will be spent in the coming year on rebuilding the region as part of a wider $32.9m capital spend which is light on headline items but heavy on infrastructure.

Gympie Regional Council has earmarked $7.75m in cash to pay for repairs to the region’s roads, bridges, parks and council-owned assets in the wake of a trio of devastating floods at the start of 2022.

The biggest spend will be on the region’s roads where, along with the recovery bill, the council is planning to outlay another $22.5m.

More than half of this ($11.6m) is to be spent on maintenance, while $4.8m will go towards widening Tamaree Rd, North Deep Creek Rd, and parts of East Deep Creek and Sandy Creek roads, and $1.8m will be spent sealing Tandur Rd.

Another $22.6m of this year’s budget will be spent on waste and waste water infrastructure and services.

Flood repairs following the trio of devastating disasters which struck the Gympie region in 2022 are a large focus of the council’s latest budget.

Parks and sporting facilities are getting another $5.5m injection, and $14m is being spent on rubbish services.

The council will be spending $4.3m on a small expansion to the eastern side of the Bonnick Rd dump, which was expected to exceed capacity about six months ago.

This will give the council breathing room as it works to identify how it will handle the region’s waste in the future.

Another $1.6m is to be spent replacing two sewerage pump stations.

The council is expanding the eastern side of Bonnick Rd to buy time as it works to identify what the future of the region’s waste services will be.

The council has also flagged $900,000 to be spent over the next year to find and then purchase land to allow the region’s squeezed sports groups to expand.

It follows a controversial decision to slash a similar $1m commitment in the 2021-22 budget in the wake of the January, February and May floods.

The annual $300,000 contribution to the Mary Valley Rattler will continue.

Acting council CEO David Lewis said the flood events had forced the organisation to “redirect a lot of its resources … to help rebuild the region”.

Mayor Glen Hartwig said the budget was the third which stayed with the council’s promise of a “back to basics” approached focused on services.