FIVE local councils, including the City of Greater Shepparton, will share in almost $10M through phase four of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) program.
Federal Member for Nicholls, Sam Birrell, said the money is for improving each council’s local road networks and for the delivery of priority community infrastructure projects.
$500M is being made available to councils across Australia with an additional $250M to support road projects in rural, regional and outer urban areas.
“The Local Road and Community Infrastructure program was established by the Coalition Government, and this round will be critically important to municipalities in Nicholls,” Mr Birrell said.
“The extremely wet weather and flooding in late 2022 has placed an additional burden on local government, with many roads requiring significant and costly upgrades over and above the scheduled maintenance they had planned for.”
He said more targeted funding would be required to repair and restore thousands of kilometres of rural roads.
Allocations under phase four of the LRCI program are Campaspe Shire Council $2,622,795; City of Greater Shepparton $2,033,496; Mitchell Shire Council $1,174,256; Moira Shire Council $2,544,893; and Strathbogie Shire Council $1,439,568.
“Guidelines and grant agreements are yet to be finalised, but I would urge the Government to ensure councils that were subject to disaster declarations are given priority access to the targeted $250 million fund,” said Mr Birrell.
Previous projects funded under the LRCI include Vibert Reserve Pavilion, improving lighting on paths around Victoria Park Lake, and upgrading outdoor aquatic facilities at Avenel and Nagambie.
