Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, has welcomed the $43 million Australian Government funding boost for the New England Highway realignment at Bolivia Hill.
The added investment would ensure the project, which has been impacted by drought and bushfire, is delivered as committed, despite a number of required design and delivery challenges.
Mr Joyce said this funding is in addition to $55 million already delivered for the project which involves the realignment and widening of approximately 2.1 kilometres of the New England Highway at Bolivia Hill, including construction of a 320 metre long bridge.
“We have fought for and are delivering a better New England Highway,” Mr Joyce said.
“The delivery for the New England continues, the Bolivia Realignment gets another $43 million to the North and the New England Highway at Singleton has more than half a billion dollars invested by the Nationals and Liberals to bypass this bottle neck and bring the cash north quicker to our area.
“On the back of the Scone Bypass we have fought for and are now delivering the Singleton Bypass.
“This is real delivery for the New England, ensuring people in our community get home sooner and safer, whilst also providing more jobs and a stronger local economy.”
Total project funding for Bolivia Hill project is now $133.7 million which includes $98 million from the Australian Government and $35.7 million from the NSW Government.
The additional funding for Bolivia Hill formed part of a $2.7 billion investment today by the Australian Government as part of its COVID-19 economic recovery plan for transport infrastructure projects across NSW.
The latest funding injection builds on a series of statewide infrastructure investments from the Commonwealth in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic which now total more than $5 billion.
Key investments for New South Wales include $560 million for the Singleton Bypass on the New England Highway; $360 million for the Newcastle Inner City Bypass between Rankin Park and Jesmond; $120 million for the Prospect Highway Upgrade; and an additional $491 million for the Coffs Harbour Bypass taking our total contribution to $1.5 billion.
(ENDS)