Media Release

Will Hodgman MP
Leader of the State Opposition
Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Treasurer
Liberal Member for Bass

Monday 8th March 2010

North-East Roads

The North East needs certainty to ensure the strategic development and funding of its road network.

We intend that it will have that certainty.

A Hodgman Majority Liberal Government would establish an independent body, Infrastructure Tasmania, that will be tasked with developing Tasmania’s first meaningful State Infrastructure Plan.

This body will consult with Local Government and the community and make recommendations to government based on economics not politics, and the North-East will be provided with a strategic plan that outlines priority projects and when they will be funded.

We commit to ensuring that the $42.5 million in road funding for freight roads that was announced three years ago is expedited and spent on priority projects such as the Bridport main Rd as a matter of urgency.

I am also pleased to announce today that the following priority projects already identified by council will be funded by a Hodgman Liberal Government.

• $4 million to continue the Lilydale Road upgrade. This is not conditional on federal funding however there is an expectation that the Federal Government will also commit funding. Furthermore, Infrastructure Tasmania will include North-East roads in Tasmania’s State Infrastructure Plan to ensure funding certainty in future based on independently assessed priorities.
• $1 million to begin works on the unsealed section of the Tomahawk to Gladstone road. This road is a key tourism and freight link road around the North East and the proposed works should assist contractors who have lost work due to the delay in the Musselroe wind farm project. Support from the Federal government will also be sought.
• The proposed Bridport Western Road Access Project will be referred to Infrastructure Tasmania for consideration as a part of its development of a strategic infrastructure plan. The Bridport future planning and development strategy highlighted this need four years ago and we believe that for reasons of safety and to improve the economic wellbeing of the township its feasibility should be considered.