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A long-mooted plan to re-route the Inland Rail to Gladstone has been officially received by Banana Shire Council after a report showed it would be at least $3 billion cheaper than sending it to Brisbane.
Council CEO Tom Upton said the Toowoomba to Gladstone option would provide greater opportunity for expansion in the future, compared to Brisbane.
This is according to an AEC report released earlier this year.
âOur role here was to demonstrate feasibility of the option and weâve got to a stage where weâre confident thatâs the case,â Mr Upton said in the ordinary council meeting on April 28.
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Anti-diesel truck lobby groups in Melbourneâs inner-west warn the federal governmentâs $2 billion investment in a freight rail terminal will do little to remove trucks from their pollution-choked streets.
The government has said it will help fund a new intermodal terminal in Melbourne in Tuesdayâs federal budget, with potential sites identified at Truganina in the cityâs west or Beveridge, about 40 kilometres north of Melbourne.
A Maribyrnong Truck Action Group protest in 2016.
Credit:Paul Jeffers
The plan would involve building new warehouse and container park capacity and connecting this to a future Inland Rail line, allowing services of double-stacked, 1800-metre trains to travel between Melbourne and Brisbane by the mid-2020s.
Planning proposals deferred
Two planning proposals to rezone land and reduce minimum lot sizes in Gregadoo Road and Tallowood Crescent have been deferred to another Council meeting.
RP-1 PLANNING PROPOSALS – LEP18/0004 AND LEP18/0009 – GREGADOO ROAD AND TALLOWOOD CRESCENT – AMENDMENT TO LAND ZONING AND MINIMUM LOT SIZE REQUIREMENTS OF THE WAGGA WAGGA LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL PLAN 2010
Update on Chamber MOU
Council received a report providing an update on the first 12 months of the Memorandum of Understanding between Council and the Wagga Wagga Business Chamber.
Although heavily impacted by COVID-19, the Chamber was able to achieve 40 of its 48 objectives and develop a four-year Strategic Plan that supports Wagga Wagga’s small business community and Council objectives.
Federal Budget 2021: What we know qt.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from qt.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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In the lead-up to the 2014 state election, then-opposition leader Daniel Andrews promised the Metro Tunnel would be built with one-third of funding provided by the state, one-third from the private sector and one-third from the Commonwealth.
One federal government cabinet minister told
The Age the Andrews government had pushed the Commonwealth for cash for the Metro Tunnel in the lead-up to Tuesday’s budget.
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The rail tunnel, which will connect South Kensington to South Yarra through five underground stations, was initially costed at $11 billion, but has blown out by $2.7 billion.
In October the state government reached a deal with the consortium building the Metro Tunnel project, Cross Yarra Partnership, which agreed to pay an extra $1.37 billion on the project. The remaining $1.37 billion will be picked up by Victorian taxpayers and is expected to be included in the state budget when it’s handed down later this month.