Daniel Andrews’ own infrastructure advisory panel has highlighted Labor has no plan for regional road maintenance to ensure taxpayers are getting bang for their buck.
Infrastructure Victoria’s 30 year strategy says the current road maintenance funding model is “inconsistent” which means maintenance is left until it is “most expensive and ultimately inflates costs”.
It mirrors the Victorian Auditor-General’s 2017 report on state managed roads which highlighted the Andrews Government’s expensive “worst first” approach.
Infrastructure Victoria recommends the Government develop a plan for regional roads and bridges and then dedicate 10 years of sustainable maintenance funding.
Under Daniel Andrews and Labor there is no plan for regional road and bridge maintenance and money is being sucked up fixing problems when they’ve gone past the point of no return.
Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Rural Roads, Roma Britnell:
“All regional motorists want is safe roads that don’t resemble goats tracks, but Daniel Andrews and Labor have no plan to deliver that.
“There are now two reports that call for significant changes to the way we approach regional road maintenance – calling for better monitoring and more cost-effective proactive repairs, rather than the ad-hoc, expensive and reactive approach we currently have.
“The Andrews Labor Government can’t ignore this any longer, it’s clear we need a plan to bring our regional roads back to an acceptable standard and it’s time for Daniel Andrews to act.”
