Page 1444 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 6 May 2008
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• improved breast cancer screening with a $5.7 million digital mammography facility;
• a Neurosurgery Suite with the latest in imaging systems, at a cost of $5.5 million;
• redevelopment of Community Health Centres at a cost of $5 million;
• a new 16-bed Surgical Assessment and Planning Unit at a cost of $4.1 million;
• an additional 24 beds at The Canberra Hospital, at a cost of $2.4 million; and
• a new Skills Development Centre, costing $1.3 million.
And the planning for this health system for the next decade and beyond will go on, even as we embark on this first phase of delivery. There’s $63.8 million for feasibility work and forward designs.
Mr Speaker, Building the Future invests comprehensively in transport, with an unprecedented $250 million capital injection into integrated transport initiatives, from car parking to cycle paths; arterial roads to new buses.
These are investments that will boost the economic productivity of our community by cutting commute times and the cost of doing business, and deliver better social outcomes for all Canberrans—those who use public transport and those who do not.
Major projects committed to in the 2008-09 Budget include:
• the duplication of Athllon Drive and Flemington Road, at a cost of $22 million;
• upgrades of Tharwa Drive and Airport Roads to improve travel times, at a cost of $21 million. These upgrades will reduce travel times for 10,000 motorists at peak times, delivering economic benefits of around $10 million and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by around 3,000 tonnes a year.
• extension of Cohen Street and the construction of a new bus interchange in Belconnen, at a cost of $16.5 million;
• 100 replacement buses over four years, at a cost of $49.5 million;
• half a million dollars for bus lanes and other bus priority measures; and
• half a million more for ‘Park and Ride’ and ‘Bike and Ride Facilities’.
Building the Future also makes provision for the future—for the projects we will need to schedule to meet the transport demands of Canberrans tomorrow. So there’s planning and feasibility work, together with an advance component—$84 million—for future projects such as Parkes Way, Majura Parkway and the duplication of the Gungahlin Drive Extension.
Building the Future represents a historic injection into—and a historic vote of confidence in—our integrated transport systems.
Building the Future will see another $100 million committed to the implementation of the Climate Change Strategy, Weathering the Change—taking to $242 million the funding already pledged to one of the greatest challenges our generation is likely to encounter.
Infrastructure initiatives funded through Building the Future go straight to the core of this challenge. They are projects that will let us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and lock carbon away in tree plantings. They are projects that will help us adapt to
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