{"id":310045,"date":"2021-11-24T18:14:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T08:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=310045"},"modified":"2021-11-25T15:15:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-25T05:15:34","slug":"blackbutt-upgrade-hits-1-6m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2021\/11\/24\/blackbutt-upgrade-hits-1-6m\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackbutt Upgrade Hits $1.6m"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The budget for Blackbutt’s CBD upgrade will expand from $1.3 million to $1.6 million because of construction cost blow-outs fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic (Graphic: SBRC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

November 24, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have added an extra $300,000 to the cost of Blackbutt’s CBD upgrade.<\/p>\n

News about the project’s progress was shared by South Burnett Councillor Gavin Jones at Wednesday’s General Meeting.<\/p>\n

The upgrade, which was first proposed as $550,000 in CBD infrastructure improvements early last year, expanded into a $1.3 million makeover after the Council held two days of public community consultation meetings to get the views of the town’s residents last December.<\/p>\n

Councillors then agreed to tip an extra $750,000 into the project in April this year with the intention the project would be finished by Christmas.<\/p>\n

However, at Wednesday’s meeting Cr Gavin Jones moved the Council inject a further $300,000 into the project, increasing its final budget to $1.6 million.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The extra money will come from the third round of Council’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) grant funding, a Federal program that provides money for road and community infrastructure upgrades.<\/p>\n

Cr Jones said the need for extra funds was caused by cost blowouts in the construction industry, fuelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Cr Kathy Duff said she supported the extra funding but wondered why detailed costings had not been provided for the project to date.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cr Jones said the reason was that after the Federal Government granted a six-month extension to the project’s completion date, staff had gone back out to tender in the hope the situation may have changed.<\/p>\n

He was hopeful this re-tendering process would yield better results, and expected more detailed costings should be available by December’s General Meeting.<\/p>\n

Cr Kirstie Schumacher, who seconded Cr Jones’ motion, said she would also like to see project costings and receive regular progress updates.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But she was happy to support the budget increase because the upgrade was an important project for the town.<\/p>\n

Mayor Otto agreed, saying he had been in Blackbutt at last Sunday’s markets and could see that Les Muller Park and Coulson Street could both do with updating.<\/p>\n

“You couldn’t get a car park in the main street and it (ie Blackbutt) is the southern gateway to the South Burnett and it should be a showpiece,” he said.<\/p>\n

The motion to increase the project’s budget by $300,000 was carried unanimously.<\/p>\n

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