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Industry News, Latest News, New South Wales, Projects

Billion dollar drought infrastructure package announced

John Holland, Lendlease services, Comdain Infrastructure and WSP will work together as the D4C joint venture to maintain the health of Sydney's waterways.

The Federal and New South Wales government will provide a $1 billion water infrastructure package for rural and regional communities affected by the drought in NSW.

The infrastructure package includes a $650 million upgrade of Wyangala Dam in Central West NSW, along with $480 million for the new Dungowan Dam near Tamworth.

He package is a 50/50 investment between the state and federal governments and also includes an initial $24 million investment on the 100,000-megalitre proposed Border Rivers project on the Mole River, near the Queensland border. The funding aims to ensure the project is shovel-ready and help identify the potential flow-on benefits for irrigators and local NSW communities.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the two governments had been working together to fund critical water infrastructure projects, including new and expanded dam projects.

“Our response to the ongoing drought impacting rural and regional communities is comprehensive and committed. It deals with immediate needs for financial assistance in and longer-term investments to build drought resilience for the future,” Morrison said.

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“Our 50/50 investment with the state government in these priority large-scale water infrastructure projects will free up NSW funding to allow them to progress critical town water projects across NSW. We want to get these projects underway because this is about water supply and security.

“These projects don’t happen overnight but we’re working as quickly as possible to get all the necessary work done so we can start digging.”

The funding package brings the total water infrastructure commitments to $1.5 billion across 21 projects that are committed or underway, as part of $7 billion in drought support funding.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the NSW Government has already committed close to $3 billion to drought relief and water security since 2017.

“In partnership with the Commonwealth, we will build the first new dam in NSW for more than 30 years. The last was Split Rock Dam on the Manilla River in 1987. That’s why today’s announcement is historic,” Berejiklian said.

“Dams and other water infrastructure are an important part of the mix when it comes to increasing supply and reliability so that NSW’s water supply is more resilient to the terrible drought being experienced across the eastern states.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Minister Michael McCormack said the funding would prioritise all necessary business case development and design works.

We are already making significant investments in water infrastructure capital projects nationwide and today’s announcement signals a major acceleration of that commitment,” McCormack said.

“These projects will fit into our strategic plan for improving regional water security through water infrastructure led by the National Water Grid Authority.”

Formalised agreements between the Federal and NSW governments outlining timeframes will be finalised soon.

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