June 18, 2020
South Burnett Regional Council believe storms that hit the region in February caused as much as $3 million damage to the South Burnett’s road network – not $1 million as previously thought.
Roads Portfolio chair Cr Gavin Jones told Wednesday’s Council meeting as many as 70 roads had suffered significant damage from the storms.
Council had now submitted a claim to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) for the cost of repairs. Work to fix the problems could start once QRA processed the claim.
Cr Jones said Council’s hands were tied when it came to effecting non-life threatening repairs.
If Council road crews carried out repairs before QRA agreed to the work, the cost fell on the shoulders of ratepayers.
But if work crews waited until they got QRA approval, the State Government paid the cost.
Cr Jones said he understood the frustration of residents dealing with damaged roads, and appealed to them to be patient.
He said the QRA approval process was lengthy, however he believed the Council’s investment in a RACAS (Road Asset Condition Assessment System) in 2017 was paying dividends.
The automated RACAS system allows the Council to provide independent “before” and “after” road data to the QRA to back any road damage claims, which helps speed up the approval process.
- Related article: Storms Cause $1m Roads Damage
