Capricorn Enterprise, Capricornia Chamber of Commerce host Rockhampton Ring Road forum
The community has had their chance to ask questions about what’s next for the Rockhampton Ring Road. Here’s what was revealed on the night.
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Businesses and representatives from both sides of politics are feeling more “optimistic” after questions around the Rockhampton Ring Road were answered on Tuesday night.
A forum was held on Tuesday at the Red Lion Hotel which was hosted by Capricorn Enterprise and the Capricornia Chamber of Commerce.
The forum attracted a crowd of 200 people who heard from local politicians, the Start Rockhampton Ring Road group and representatives from the state and federal transport departments.
It comes as early works on the ring road get underway which include utilities disconnections/reconnections in the corridor to get set up for the new road – things like power connections, water connections and telecommunications.
At the forum it was reported that the department was looking at ways costs could be reduced and that the project was under the eyes of those high up in both the state and federal departments.
It was also reported a slight delay would allow the workers from projects such as Rookwood Weir and Shoalwater Bay to come on board once they were completed, which would also mean less fly-in-fly-out workers would be needed and giving more locals opportunities to work on the project.
One of the speakers of the night was Jack Trenaman, CEO of SMW Group and part of the Start Rockhampton Ring Road group, who said the recent rally, which went all the way to Canberra, included “positive” meetings with politicians and department representatives about the project.
Also speaking on the night were Keppel MP Brittany Lauga, Rockhampton MP Barry O’Rourke, Capricornia MP Michelle Landry, Queensland Senator Matt Canavan and local chair of apprentices and trainees, Dave Grenfell.
Ms Lauga and Mr O’Rourke both said they had visited the ring road site on Tuesday where they met with surveyors working on the site.
“I’m very, very confident about this project. The state government has always had this $200 million available and what we’ve seen is a commitment. We’ve got surveyors out there finalising the road corridor, the moving of water, power and electrical - that’s happening as we speak,” Mr O’Rourke said.
“We will look at some early packages early next year. It’s going to happen, there’s no question about that.”
“We need to see the project delivered for our economy and our community,” Ms Lauga said.
“But we also want to make sure we get as much local content out of this as possible. We want as many local workers given the opportunity to work on this project and we need to deliver it within the budget.
“The budget is committed, we need to find ways in which we can reduce the blowout and find ways in which we can smooth the project out.
“To visit on site today (Tuesday) to see surveyors working on the road alignment, pegging out and surveying that alignment so that road is mapped out, it’s gazetted and all the infrastructure along that alignment is removed and ready for construction.”
Capricornia MP Michelle Landry and Queensland Senator Matt Canavan said the forum went well and it was good to have state and federal bureaucrats listening to the community.
However, they both said the pressure would need to be kept on to get results.
“I think there were a lot of questions answered tonight and I think we still need to keep the pressure on there because nothing is resolved yet,” Ms Landry said.
“There are some packages coming forward and that’s great but we still need the billion dollar ring road to go ahead.”
“We’ve had a rally of 500 people, we’ve had a convoy go to Canberra and we’ve followed it up with this meeting,” Mr Canavan said.
“We’re going to get this road built through people power, as long as we keep getting our voice heard.”
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