NSW Government Announces $500 Million for Pothole Repairs

 

IPWEA NSW & ACT welcome’s the recent announcement by the NSW Government that they will fund $500 million towards pothole repairs for NSW councils through the Regional and Local Roads Repair program. With the recent wet weather, flooding and other natural disasters, local roads within NSW have significantly degraded, leading to an extensive number of potholes and other defects throughout the local road network. This has culminated in a significant repair program for NSW councils to manage with limited funding, and already stretched resources. The $500 million funding will significantly reduce the financial burden on NSW councils in carrying out these critical repair works.

Throughout 2022, IPWEA NSW & ACT and the Roads and Transport Directorate have advocated strongly for increased state and federal resources to aid NSW council’s in repairing the local road network. Following the Local Roads Congress in June 2022, the Roads & Transport Directorate released the 2022 NSW Local Road Congress Communique which pushed the NSW Government to improve the resilience of local communities to natural disasters, and to develop a sustainable funding model for Local Government in NSW. Our advocacy for the public works industry has highlighted the critical needs of local councils to the NSW Government.
 

We welcome the announcement of this funding however, we also acknowledge that sustainable funding is only one of the issues being faced by NSW councils in the road to recovery. IPWEA NSW & ACT and the Roads and Transport Directorate continue to advocate on behalf of NSW councils for the NSW Government to help address the skills shortage being faced by NSW Councils, through increasing engineering cadetship and work experience programs, promoting the value of a career in public works, as well as to partner with educational institutions to develop employment pathways. Furthermore, local councils currently face challenges with supply chain issues and the procurement of materials, with these challenges coupled with a skills shortage, local councils will struggle to capitalise on this funding before the NSW Government’s completion date of 31 December 2023. IPWEA NSW & ACT will encourage the NSW Government to extend the required date for completion of repair works to be extended beyond the end of this year.

IPWEA NSW & ACT and the Roads and Transport Directorate will continue to support NSW councils in their mission to improve the quality of public works for NSW communities. To ensure local councils maximise the use of this funding, we would like to take this opportunity to remind our members of how IPWEA NSW & ACT can help meet their professional development needs. IPWEA NSW & ACT will be holding Conduct Road Inspections and Supervisors Workshops later this month. These courses give participants the knowledge and skills required to identify and triage damaged and distressed local roads.
For more information on our professional development course, or our ongoing advocacy efforts, please contact us at: nsw@ipweansw.org