General News
21 June, 2024
Capital works of $383m
WATER security, improving suburban connectivity, and targeting core areas of service delivery underline Cairns Regional Council’s record $383 million capital works program.
The budget commits $217.7m to Cairns Water Security Stage 1 with consrtuction due to begin in August.
The project, the council’s largest single infrastructure commitment, is designed to secure the city’s immediate drinking water needs by delivering new water capacity like a dam, but at less cost and with a much lighter environmental footprint.
Last week, the state government announced that it would increase its commitment to the project by $87.5m to $195 million. The federal government has yet to match the figure.
Cairns Mayor Amy Eden said the capital works program focused on vital investments, such as water security, while still delivering smaller, important projects for the suburbs.
“I love this city (I even have the T-shirt to prove it), and while today, in honesty, I’m sitting here delivering a budget largely inherited and not everything I’d have hoped for, I do still present it with a great deal of hope,” she said.
“Hope that it allows us to address critical challenges this year, and in doing so, empowers us to build from that platform next year, with the new initiatives and fulfilled promises that will make Cairns the city we all want it to be.”
This year, the $383m capital works program allows for:
$217.7m to Cairns Water Security Stage 1 (CWSS1)
$52m for roads, bridges, street lighting, drainage, kerb and channel, shoulder sealing, and bus stops
$43.1m to enhance the water network (exclusive of CWSS1)
$32.7m for improving our wastewater network
$20.4m dedicated to community, sport, and cultural projects.
As part of the capital works program, $22m specifically for disaster recovery.
This includes initial allocations for:
$1.275m for the Casuarina Street bridge at Holloways Beach
$1m for repairs to Lower Kamerunga bridge
$1m for Barron Gorge Rd
$500,000 for Fisheries Bridge at Goldsborough
Repairs to Figtree Dr, Kamerunga, ($900,000), Lower Freshwater Rd ($800,000), Orana St, Caravonica ($400,000), Joyce Rd ($400,000) and Grays bridge ($400,000).
