MORE roads funding, the second stage of the Warrnambool Base Hospital redevelopment and the continuation of the Beyond the Bell program to improve the south-west’s Year 12 retention rate.
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They are among several projects which south-west government leaders hope will receive funding in Wednesday’s state budget.
Great South Coast (GSC) chairman Colin Ryan said its top priorities from the budget included more funding to improve the south-west’s roads that were the worst in the state.
The Moyne Shire mayor said the GSC wanted $220 million from the state over the next four years to upgrade the region’s roads.
Cr Ryan said $180 million was needed for capital expenditure on roads and an extra $40 million for recurrent expenditure to bring the region’s roads up to standard.
He said roads to the Port of Portland were in urgent need of maintenance. The port was the biggest woodchip port in the world with it expected to handle $15 billion of woodchip over the next seven to eight years, Cr Ryan said.
Those exports were significant to Australia and about $200 million should be spent on the regional road network to Portland over several years to support the woodchip industry, he said.
Other projects that should be in the budget were stage two of the Warrnambool Base Hospital, which had a total cost of about $100 million, and the Beyond the Bell program that should receive $500,000 a year over three years, Cr Ryan said.
Adding another daily train service between Warrnambool and Melbourne to make it four would be “cost-neutral” but the GSC believed funding should be provided for a fifth daily service, he said.
“We also want the state government to contribute whatever is necessary to ensure we have a tertiary institution in our region,” Cr Ryan said.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell’s budget wishlist was a similar one but included funding for a new new special needs school in Warrnambool to follow on from money previously allocated to buy land for the project.
Mrs Britnell said the electorate was overlooked in last year’s budget “but the government’s windfalls this year means there are no more excuses.’’