The NSW regional roads minister has told Flow that a pilot program to build flooded roads back better than their pre-disaster condition could be applied in the south of the state, if he has his way.
Nationals MLC Sam Farraway told Flow on Friday:
"We need to look at our infrastructure when we rebuild it to build it back better, build resilience into the infrastructure because its got to withstand more weather events more often.
"We are trialling after the Lismore flooding we have partnered with the Commonwealth on a 50:50 funding where we have a betterment fund. We're going to roll out these projects in early 2023. If we can get this right, my intention as minister for regional roads, I want to keep banging on the Commonwealth's door, I want their support to help me roll out betterment for our road infrastructure in the Murray, in the Riverina, in the central west, in the northwest of this state, even in the Hawkesbury on the outskirts of Sydney."
Hear the full interview with regional roads minister Sam Farraway on the Flow podcast player below:
Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton expressed his support for betterment on Flow on Friday:
"(the road) gets washed away or bridges where the approach roads are cut ... the inconvenience as much as anything, asking people to drive an extra 45 minutes to work - with the cost of electricity, fuel, it makes it near impossible and some people as we heard yesterday resigned from their work because the numbers don't add up ... It's a compelling argument that the roads should be built to a higher standard. When the Coalition was in government, we put more money into these sorts of projects and the money is there waiting for the federal government to draw down on as we come out of this (flood) event."
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