May 2, 2013
Where do we find the money to repair the roads? This is the question the South Burnett Regional Council is now facing as it begins to frame its 2013-14 Budget.
The South Burnett region has 1373km of sealed roads and 1676km of gravelled and formed roads; and 90 per cent of them are in need of maintenance or repair after the floods.
“The amount of damage to our roads is going to take some time and a considerable amount of money to complete,” Mayor Wayne Kratzmann said today.
“Funding from both State and Federal governments has been cut and we as a Council now need to seriously look at how we fund the much-needed work to improve our roads.
“We need to think of the long-term benefit to our region and do more than a band-aid job. If we spend more money upfront then ratepayers will see significant cost savings in the future.
“The unanswered question is ‘Where do we find the money?’ There comes a time when the tough decisions have to be made and this is what council is currently facing.”
Council’s road repairs are about to move from emergency work to the next stage of restoration.
“Due to the floods we have had three months with little maintenance work occurring due to the large amount of emergency work needed,” Council engineer Jeff Stephan said.
“It is part of our disaster management plan that we prioritise emergent work. This includes working on roads that may stop people accessing essential services or roads that may have an effect on the economy or the day-to-day running of a business.
“The roads team have been very busy over the past three months ensuring that as many roads as possible were re-opened. We are now moving on to focussing on the roads that are open but need repairs.”
