Page 2228 - Week 06 - Friday, 27 June 2008
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around this—and Mrs Dunne can test this and ask further questions in the briefing on Monday—there was contact with the family by phone. There were also visits to the house from the time of the supervision orders lapsing to the events on Sunday evening.
Gungahlin Drive extension
MR MULCAHY: My question is to the minister representing the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services and relates to the Gungahlin Drive extension. Minister, during a recent estimates committee hearing the Minister for Territory and Municipal Services indicated that the government would not commence work on expanding the Gungahlin Drive extension for at least 12 months. What work has been done to commence traffic studies on the usage of the road?
MR STANHOPE: I regret that I will have to take the question on notice. It may be a level of detail that the minister has; I regret it is a level of detail that I do not have. I am certainly more than willing to seek the information and provide it to Mr Mulcahy and to the Assembly.
What I can say—it is not a response to the specific question—is that Roads ACT is aware of some of the merging issues, including merging lanes and adequacy of the capacity to merge, I think most particularly south of Belconnen Way and Ginninderra Drive. I am aware that Roads ACT, or at least Territory and Municipal Services, is looking at the prospect of early additional amelioration or work to assist in dealing with issues around merging.
Over and above that, what I am able to say is that the budget that we are debating today—indeed, we are still on the Territory and Municipal Services line—contains a provision of $250 million in infrastructure and capital directly aimed at ensuring that we can meet the public transport and road needs of the ACT now and into the future. It is the single largest injection of capital funding for transport in the history of the ACT.
We have given some clear indication of how some of that record level of expenditure for transport and roads will be utilised. There is a significant uncommitted level of funding in the infrastructure fund for roads. I have earlier indicated that the ACT government has identified the three priority roads for major investment in the ACT as a potential Majura Parkway, expansion of the Gungahlin Drive extension and an upgrade to Parkes Way. They are the three roads of significant priority that will require significant investment, with each of them requiring an investment of more than $100 million.
There is significant capacity already identified within the budget, and that capacity will be utilised to progress those three major road upgrades. They are very much part and parcel of the government’s thinking and forward planning. We are aware and working towards and ensuring that we have the resourcing capacity to meet emerging needs for the upgrades of three major roads. They cannot all be done at once. They will have to be scheduled.
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