Flinders and Balla Balla get a mention today, the 2 companies appear to get mentioned as one and yet there isn’t any agreement and they aren’t even in communication....Both companies declined to comment..... LOL
Flat tyres and broken windows: The Pilbara Road screaming for funding
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A spokesman for federal Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack said the Coalition acknowledged the Karratha-Tom Price road was both a key route for industry and a priority for WA but stopped short of committing any funding.
In response to questions asked by WAtodayhe said the federal government was "committed to investing in making roads safer right around Australia to ensure people can get home sooner and safer".
"The [federal] government works closely with the states and territories to identify, prioritise and deliver important projects and we acknowledge that the Karratha-Tom Price road is both a key route for industry and a priority for Western Australia," Mr McCormack's spokesman said.
"We are considering more Federal Government priority projects in the upcoming Budget process."
Locals are far from impressed
North West Central MP Vince Catania, whose vast state electorate encompasses much of the project, is less than impressed at the way both state and federal governments have sidestepped a funding commitment.
He said the state government should use extra iron ore royalties payments which might hit treasury coffers as a result in increased prices (the government has previously said it will use any windfall from dam disasters in Brazil to pay down debt).
"I would argue that the resource companies are contributing an extra billion dollars to the state coffers this financial year, so why can't you take 25 per cent off that billion dollars, which would cover the shortfall on the road?" Mr Catania said.
the state government is in a better position to leverage our contribution and secure the additional Commonwealth funding...
Rita Saffioti
"The pressure needs to come back on the state.
"Iron ore has been coming out of the Tom Price and Paraburdoo areas, so therefore, why can't they receive at least 25 per cent of the benefit they've given the state?"
Mr Catania said the road would've been funded by now if the McGowan Government hadn't gutted the Nationals' flagship Royalties for Regions fund, which quarantined mining royalties paid to the state for projects in regional WA.
He took aim at the "metro thinking we have currently with this [state] Labor government and the east-coast centric thinking we have with the federal government".
"Unless the federal government is going to give you $235 million to complete it, it's not going to happen," Mr Catania said.
"Unless the state government is going to bring back Royalties for Regions, and realise the billion dollar windfall they're receiving this financial year and put 25 per cent of it back into the Pilbara were the billion dollars has come from, it's not going to be funded."
What about the state government?
Ms Saffioti said the road is a high priority for the state government and points to the $50 million allocated in the state budget.
She said the state government had worked hard to get the road on the Commonwealth's infrastructure priority list.
"The combination of providing drastically reduced travel times, better access to Aboriginal communities, safety improvements and less risk of closure during wet season makes Karratha-Tom Price Road a highly beneficial project," she said.
"Now that these benefits are recognised by the nation’s infrastructure body, the state government is in a better position to leverage our contribution and secure the additional Commonwealth funding required to complete construction.
"As WA Transport Minister, I have also written to the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Michael McCormack to outline the many benefits this road will bring to the region and to request the extra funding required to progress further stages."
Balla Balla Infrastructure did not respond to requests for comment.
Flinders Resources declined to comment.
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