SECURING funding for Mildura South Regional Sporting Precinct as well as schools, roads and rail are on Member for Mildura Ali Cupper’s COVID-19 recovery hitlist.
Ms Cupper has announced a swathe of “shovel-ready”, job-creating projects she will pitch to the Andrews Government to aid in the community’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
The projects are:
- Mildura South Regional Sporting Precinct – construction of the complete project.
- Mildura West Primary School – construction of three learning hubs to complete the school’s Master Plan.
- Hopetoun P-12 College – construction of science and food technology classrooms.
- Merbein P-10 College – construction of administration, library, science and canteen facilities which are among the last remaining infrastructure projects to be funded.
- Robinvale-Sea Lake Road – major upgrade to 100km of the road.
- Murray Basin Rail Project – completion of gauge conversion and upgrade works.
“We are anticipating stimulus spending prior to the budget being finalised and announced,” Ms Cupper said. “All of these projects have either started or could be started immediately if the Government was to provide the funding.”
The Victorian budget, originally set to be handed down this month, has been pushed back until later in the year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Government has already foreshadowed that infrastructure stimulus funding would be needed to kickstart Victoria’s economy to recover from the COVID-19 shutdown measures.
A lot of that spending is expected to be in the form of infrastructure projects that would boost jobs in the short and medium term.
Ms Cupper believes these projects have the potential to create hundreds of jobs, both in the construction phase and into the future.
“Our unemployment figures were bad in the first place. Now they are even worse. We need a big injection of job-creating investment and I am getting on the front foot now to fight for our rightful share of any infrastructure stimulus spending,” she said.
