The State Government urgently needs to duplicate Barwon Heads Road with funds from the Port of Melbourne lease, a local Opposition MP says.
South Barwon MP Andrew said that the roadworks for the Warralily town centre highlighted the “urgent need”.
“Traffic was reduced to one lane over the previous weekend which caused significant delays of up to 15 to 20 minutes. From this Wednesday the Barwon Heads Road at Warralily will be closed entirely for five days in both directions.”
Mr Katos welcomed the government’s announcement on Tuesday that it would commit $970m from the Port of Melbourne lease to rural infrastructure.
He called for the government to make the duplication of Barwon Heads Road a priority.
“Armstrong Creek is one the largest growth areas in Victoria with 55,000 people and 22,000 homes,” he said.
Mr Katos said Liberal Party negotiations forced the government to commit the $970m to regional Victoria.
“Under Labor’s original terms, the entirety of the lease proceeds would have been invested into metropolitan Melbourne.”
However Bellarine MP Lisa Neville said the government would consider projects carefully rather than rushing to spend the windfall.
“Unlike the Liberal National Opposition we won’t be reckless and spend taxpayer’s money on projects that don’t stack up. We’re working with regional councils to upgrade regional roads.”
A spokesperson for Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said the government had always intended to allocate 10 per cent of the money from the lease to regional projects.
