Page 294 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2008
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
(1) notes:
(a) that 31 months has passed since the first of only two community meetings with the Tharwa community to discuss the future of the Tharwa Bridge;
(b) that the Heritage Council recommended that the Tharwa Bridge be restored and retained;
(c) the negative social and financial impact on the Tharwa community and district since the closure of the Tharwa Bridge in September 2006;
(d) the Minister’s failure to consult on all options and instead his determination at both community meetings in May 2005 and October 2006 to replace the old bridge with a new concrete bridge;
(e) the ACT Government’s failure to identify and take note of the engineering and financial evidence which existed showing that the Tharwa Bridge was not beyond economic repair and was capable of being restored relatively quickly;
(f) the time and money wasted on the tender process and preliminary works for the proposed new concrete bridge at Tharwa;
(g) the Chief Minister’s intervention as a result of community sentiment and inaction by and incompetence of Minister Hargreaves; and
(h) the decision to restore Tharwa Bridge is welcome recognition of the importance of a valuable heritage icon of the ACT;
(2) calls on the ACT Government to apologise to the:
(a) Tharwa community for the:
(i) social and financial impact on the Tharwa village and surrounding district; and
(ii) extended time it took to resolve the issue; and
(b) ACT community for placing a heritage icon at risk;
(3) refers to the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment for inquiry and report all circumstances surrounding the original decision to close the existing Tharwa Bridge, the original decision to restore the existing Tharwa Bridge and the consequent decision to build a new bridge at Tharwa and subsequent reversal of that decision, including but not limited to:
(a) the process that occurred that brought the ACT Government to the decision to build a new concrete bridge at Tharwa;
(b) the engineering and financial advice that has been provided to the ACT Government to date, regarding the viability of the restoration of the bridge at Tharwa;
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .