Politics & Council
24 December, 2025
54 varieties - $m tender to fix flood-damaged roads
CREWS will hit Loddon roads in 2026 fixing 54 roads damaged in floods that hit the region within 14 months.
The shire council on Tuesday awarded a tender, believed to be several million dollars, to two companies.
Works on gravel roads and sealed road shoulders will be done by Earthworks Civil and Construction Pty Ltd, Civil and Earth Australia Pty Ltd and Central Vic Stabilising Pty Ltd.
The 54 spots are in nine packets of projects under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements to restore roads to pre-flood condition.
The roads were damaged in the October 2022 floods and the summer storms of 2023-2024.
Councillors were told that 10 conforming tenders received were assessed. “During the evaluation process, it was identified that a tenderer submitted significantly lower pricing than project estimates,” the council report said.
“While their overall scores were high, the panel assessed this pricing as representing a substantial risk for variations and potential impacts to project delivery.
“As a result, the panel recommended proceeding with the second conforming tenderers for relevant packets to ensure certainty of delivery and manage risk.”
Projects stretch across the shire and include Yando Swamp Road, Woolshed Flat Road, Korong Vale-Wychitella Road, Borung Wedderburn Road, Richmond Plains-Wedderburn Road, Buckrabanyule-Wychitella Road, Charlton-Borung Road and Wedderburn-Wychitella Road.
Mitiamo-Elmore Road, Mitiamo-Kerang Road and Marong-Serpentine Road are also on the list.
Council earlier this year claimed a breakthrough accessing disaster recovery funding after being stymied by government red-tape and multiple layers of bureaucratic assessment and approval of flood recovery projects.
In March 2024, Premier Jacinta Allan was told of frustrations and challenges with flood recovery restoration work approvals for Loddon Shire. Then-Mayor Gavan Holt and CEO Lincoln Fitzgerald put concerns to Ms Allan and then-operations director Steven Phillips also told councillors there were alarm bells that only 10 per cent of works were complete with approval processes a problem.
Last August, council was still waiting for approvals on repair projects worth $22 million while other works had been fast-tracked by council using its own funds.
While council has less than a year to meet the deadline on works funded under the program, officers have told councillorts an extension may be requested beyond June 30.