$5m to fund road plan
THE first chunk of a $210m cash pot pledged by federal Labor will soon be put to use improving safety on the crash-plagued Kuranda Range Rd, but inclusion of the route in the national transport network is off the table for now.
Labor has made good on a pre-election promise to fund safety upgrades in the October budget and a first instalment of $5m is expected before the end of the financial year.
The $5m will be used on planning for major construction phases that will get underway in the following financial year and ramp up in 2025 and 2026.
Instalments of $20m, $60m, and then $125m will be released in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
In an opinion piece circulated to clear up Kuranda Rd misconception, state Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the route did not meet the criteria to be a national highway.
“This has been the case for as long as I’ve been the Transport and Main Roads Minister,” Mr Bailey wrote.
He did write to then federal Transport Minister Barnaby Joyce providing permission for the route to be added to the national network, however it is understood no reply was received in the four months leading up to the change of government in May last year.
In a dig at Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch, Mr Bailey said in six months federal Labor had committed more funding to the Kuranda Range Rd than the MP had been able to secure in more than 20 years as a Far North member.
“Despite not having a local member in the region, (a new Labor federal government) has committed $210m to upgrade the Kuranda Range Rd, which includes funding for a study into alternative future options,” the state minister said.
“Given there is now $210m of funding on the table for the Kuranda Range Rd, making it a national highway would be a pointless exercise.
“The claim that doing this would unlock funding is misleading.”