“Council has received a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss advising us that the determination of priorities for funding are decided by the Victorian Government and as the State Government hadn’t put forward the GV Bypass for funding it would not be considered,” said Cr Houlihan.
“Therefore we must conclude that State Government has not identified the Bypass as a priority in seeking funding under the Infrastructure Investment Program from the Federal Government and so the project has stalled once again,” said Cr Houlihan. ”This is disappointing as we have previously been assured that the State Government had listed the GV Bypass as one of its priority projects for consideration by the Federal Government.”
“Last week we had the RACV announcing their support for the multi-million dollar project and now we have the State Government ignoring the report on critical road and public transport deficiencies.”
“After a 12 month comprehensive investigation the RACV had identified that the Government needs to spend $305 million in Greater Shepparton to set our region up with infrastructure to cope with future growth,” said Cr Houlihan.
“Our local road and transport system is already under pressure and with Shepparton, Mooroopna and Kialla identified to experience major growth over the next 20 to 30 years in accommodating up to 17,600 new residents, investment in our local road and transport network is critical,” said Cr Houlihan.
“Construction of the Goulburn Valley Shepparton Bypass has been on the agenda for almost 20 years, and we anticipate that support from the RACV will assist Council in seeking the Government funding needed to complete the project.”
“Unfortunately at this stage the State Government has not supported the need for the Bypass for priority funding, and we call on them to ensure that this important project receives the support it needs to bring it to fruition.”
Goulburn Valley GV Highway Bypass Action Group Chairman Peter Johnson says he supports the Mayor’s comments. “The State Government’s lack of commitment is particularly disappointing as in 2012 they had included the Bypass in their list of projects for proposed referral to Infrastructure Australia,” he said.
