Page 857 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 25 July 1989
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repairs and maintenance of government buildings and engineering facilities. This money will help to make up for inadequate funding in the past. As Canberra has grown, so has the cost of maintaining our ageing and increasing assets. We must act now to make up for past neglect. The injection of this $5m will be of direct benefit to the local construction industry. The majority of the work will be undertaken by the private sector, and employment opportunities will increase.
Mr Speaker, I would like now to discuss the capital works budget. The Government is very conscious of the importance of expenditure on capital works, both to provide necessary public facilities and as a major source of economic activity. Expenditure by the ACT Government on infrastructure development currently covers about a quarter of total construction activity in the Territory. Altogether, expenditure on construction by the ACT government sector is expected to increase by $20m, or 10.8 per cent on 1988-89. When added to the further $5m being made available for repairs and maintenance, these programs will assist in stabilising activity and employment in the construction industry. Proposed new works include significant improvements to facilities for education and training. Construction will begin on a new nurse education building at the Canberra College of Advanced Education, at an estimated cost of $4.4m. This will provide the ACT with an upgraded facility, as well as meeting Commonwealth requirements in this area.
New automotive painting and panel beating workshops for TAFE will be constructed at Fyshwick. These facilities, which are estimated to cost $7.3m, will replace leased accommodation that does not meet industrial or health and safety guidelines. We will undertake a major upgrading, estimated to cost $7.7m, of the former Woden Valley High School to replace the current unsatisfactory TAFE campus at Callam Street, Woden.
Construction will also begin on a new school and preschool at Theodore, to open in January 1991 to meet the projected enrolments in that developing suburb. The estimated cost of this project is $4.8m.
In the transport area the program provides for works totalling $36.3m, including extension of the Eastern Parkway to Morshead Drive. This will provide significant benefit to residents of Tuggeranong who work in the central area of Canberra. It will also enhance the residential amenity of south Canberra by reducing the volume of through traffic.
Works totalling $10.4m are planned in the environment and recreation area, as well as the construction of a new fire station at Greenway to serve the developing Tuggeranong town centre. The Government will be seeking the Assembly's agreement to refer these works to the Standing Committee of the Assembly on Planning, Development and Infrastructure for consideration and report by mid-September 1989.
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