Politics & Council
15 March, 2024
Approval backlog irks neighbouring shires
ADMINISTRATION and maintenance resources to have 2022 October flood repair projects approved were significant, according to one Victorian council. A week after Loddon Shire operations director Steve Phillips called out four levels of bureaucracy to...
ADMINISTRATION and maintenance resources to have 2022 October flood repair projects approved were significant, according to one Victorian council.
A week after Loddon Shire operations director Steve Phillips called out four levels of bureaucracy to approve projects, he has been backed by Maryborough-based Central Goldfields Shire.
Its manager infrastructure, assets and planning Matthew Irving said only a quarter of more than 2000 projects had been approved.
“Council continues to engage with government agencies to have claims approved for reimbursement of costs associated with completion of these projects,” Mr Irving said.
“To date approximately a quarter of flood repair jobs have been approved. The level of required administrative project management resources invested into the process are significant.
“A review of the process to improve community outcomes and create efficiencies would be warranted in the future. Due to the moderate size of the works program council is confident that all projects will be complete by June 2025.”
The larger Central Goldfields Shire saw Carisbrook significantly hit by floods in 2022.
Loddon Shire is still waiting on approval of almost 900 projects and Mr Phillips said it would be difficult to have them completed by the June 2025 deadline.
In Campaspe Shire based at Echuca and including Rochester, infrastructure director Kate Lemon said only 31 of 714 projects were still to be done.
“Campaspe Shire’s total repairs are approximately 714, of which 31 are outstanding, consisting of the larger jobs (Restoration of Essential Public Assets (REPA) and Victorian Priority Betterment Funding).
“These jobs are large scale, complex jobs that require design and planning. In regard to the 31 REPA projects which are remaining, none of these projects have been approved yet, however majority are still under final preparation for funding, will be submitted this month. REPA projects are the only projects that receive full budget approval prior to works commencing, all other works receive budget approval at the time of claim submission. Campaspe Shire Council is currently on track to have all works completed by March 2025.”
Works are funded through the joint federal-state Disaster Recovery Funding Program. The State Government last week said approval processes should be reveiwed.