Max Eastcott
Max Eastcott General Manager of Gwydir Shire Council will present at the Australian Regional Development Conference will be held at the Commercial Club Albury on the 26– 27 August 2015.
Presentation Title: An Innovative approach to local road funding
Presentation Overview: The Australian Rural Roads Group Inc. (ARRG) signed an agreement on Australia Day 2014 with Infrastructure Australia, which is known as the Bingara Accord.
The Accord stated that:
The parties agree:
- to seek to bring roads into line with the mainstream practices of Australia’s infrastructure sectors;
- to employ user pays-user says trials for road improvements to test this approach;
- that the Australian Rural Roads Group asset and investment template is appropriate for local roads throughout regional Australia;
- that submissions should be made to include suitably aggregated proposals in Infrastructure Australia’s national infrastructure audit and infrastructure priorities list.
As a result of this Accord five North West NSW Councils known as the North-West Network (Gwydir, Moree Plains, Gunnedah, Warrumbungle and Narrabri Shire Councils) commissioned a report to submit to Infrastructure Australia that detailed how additional Federal Government funding for rural local roads could be justified as economically responsible based upon productivity improvement outcomes.
The North-West Network is a road investment and sustainability program designed for a 57,000 square kilometre agricultural powerhouse region of north-western New South Wales. It has two main features:
- Road productivity and
- Roads sustainability
The network – over 12,000 kilometres of roads – has little opportunity to secure major new capital funds from governments in the prevailing fiscal climate. Yet at the same time, the public sector roads ‘system’ does not offer significant avenues for productivity-based funding allocations. This program has been designed to be submitted to Infrastructure Australia and in turn to the New South Wales government and Infrastructure NSW for formal recognition as a ‘national infrastructure priority list’ project, based on:
- National agricultural productivity;
- Links to the proposed Inland Rail;
- Innovative market investment approach to financing roads;
- Economic Merit; and.
- It is Deliverable.
The presentation will outline the process followed and the methodology adopted and why it should be used as a template for an improved road funding model.
For more information on the National Road Asset Reporting Pilot or to view/download the Bingara Accord please click here.
