Parkhurst silos painted in Start Rockhampton Ring Road campaign

Huge silos on Rockhampton’s outskirts have been painted reminding governments to ‘keep their promises’ on the Ring Road Project.

Grantley Jack, Jason Thomasson and Jack Trenaman from the Start Rockhampton Ring Road group in front of the newly painted silos at Parkhurst.

After many successful meetings and a rally to Canberra, the Start Rockhampton Ring Road group is keeping its campaign in front of the eyes of locals and dignitaries.

The Silos on Yaamba Road at Parkhurst have recently been painted green with ‘Start Rocky Ring Road 2023’ and ‘Keep Your Promises’ written in white.

Construction of the Rockhampton Ring Road was supposed to begin in early 2023, but a $700m estimates blowout pushed the project back with uncertainty as to when the works would actually begin.

Since then locals have been very vocal about the issue with members of the Start Rockhampton Ring Road group rallying from Parkhurst to Canberra.

Owner of JRT Rockhampton and member of the Start Rockhampton Ring Road Group, Jason Thomasson said the painted silos served as a reminder for the government to keep their promises.

“To date all sides of government are working hard at bringing this to the job site, so we’re putting the reminder out there now - these silos will stay painted until such time as there’s a decent amount of work start, which is hopefully early next year,” he said.

“As we’ve said all along, it’s not about any politics at all we just want to see the money stay locally for the people that invested their time and efforts to date to come here and work in this region.

“This is just another little commitment from us as a group to make sure the message is out there, thousands of cars a day go past this site on the highway to Mackay so we just want to see this message is kept out there for everyone to see.”

Also part of the group and director of NRG Industrial, Grantley Jack, said a billion dollars would go a long way in the region.

“We’ve seen it with the Shoalwater Bay project and Rookwood Weir, there’s a lot of investment in this town, the whole place is buzzing at the moment,” he said.

Grantley Jack, Jason Thomasson and Jack Trenaman from the Start Rockhampton Ring Road group in front of the newly painted silos at Parkhurst.

“We want to maintain that momentum and keep it going.

“Watch this space, we’ve got some more little surprises here - but it’s about keeping everyone on target and to steer the course and we’ll get this ring road across the line.”

CEO of SMW and member of the Start Rockhampton Ring Road Group Jack Trenaman said the silos reinforced their message about the ring road project.

“We give credit where credit’s due and all sides of politics, local, state and federal, are on board with this project and we know that if we continue to support them they’ll support the community by making this Rockhampton Ring Rd happen in 2023,” he said.

“All businesses that have got to do with heavy industry, whether it’s road transport, logistics or engineering, we all have the same similar issues when any of our over-size loads have to go through the CBD it’s disruptive.”

Recently Rockhampton region Mayor Tony Williams raised the topic in Canberra when he went to the nation’s capital with Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett and Livingstone Shire Mayor Andy Ireland.

Mr Williams said the discussions about the ring road were “very positive”.

“Having that understanding where the council was engaging in the diplomatic process with both the ministers and their advisers and senators about how important the ring road project is for the region really did resonate,” he said.

“Also having the other councillors and mayors (there) really did hit home the importance of that project and needing to make sure that project was not push out too far, and that we needed it in 2024.”

Mr Williams said his next step would be to liaise with the state government about the progress of the project.