The State Government
has announced that as a part of its response to the release of the Strategic
Grain Network Committees (SGNC) report, it will meet with communities across
affected regions to discuss the report’s findings in more
detail.
Transport Minister
Simon O’Brien said the SGNC canvassed many complex issues in their report and it
was now important that those local governments and communities directly affected
were given the opportunity to hear a first hand explanation of the report by its
authors.
“With this in mind, I
have written to all affected local governments through the WA Local Government
Association with the offer of a series of briefings and information sessions on
the review and its findings,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Department of
Transport officers and the chairman of the SGNC will be available to explain the
content and detail of the report and also to answer questions.
“While the State
Government had acted urgently to ensure the immediate future of the State’s
grain rail network was secure, the Government must consider how to tackle the
longer term issues identified in the report - an issue made even more compelling
by the deregulation of the wheat market.”
In January the
Government announced an urgent $30million investment in the State’s grain
freight network that will fund:
- urgently required rail maintenance work on the Avon to Albany line
- a rail equalising cost access scheme designed to make transporting grain by rail cost competitive with transporting it by road in the Kwinana South Zone
- project development and pre-construction activities on the proposed Chester Pass Road upgrade, a key north-south regional road route linking Albany and the Southern Wheatbelt.
The Minister stressed
that these announcements were just an immediate response to the issues at hand
and that overarching, long term funding decisions would be made after further
analysis.
“The State Government
is working with the Federal Government to develop a plan for long-term strategic
investment in the grain logistics network,” he said.
