THE Department of Transport will run a series of forums across regional Western Australia to help the State government prioritise future funding requests for its WA Agricultural Supply Chain Stage 2 business case.
The forums will be held across the Wheatbelt, Great Southern, Mid West and Goldfields-Esperance regions, starting from this Thursday, July 22 and running into early August.
WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said the forums would be a good opportunity for the community to hear about road and rail upgrades already underway or planned, as well as to have their say about where future investment is directed.
"The forums will provide an update on work that has already been done and look for feedback on the proposals being considered as part of the Agricultural Supply Chain Improvement program," Ms Saffioti said.
"They will also explain the process and seek feedback on the work underway to identify and rank the longer-term program of rail and road investment proposals.
Dates, times and locations for the upcoming regional agricultural road and rail forums being held by the Department of Transport:
- Thursday July 22, 12-2pm, Batavia Coast Conference Centre, Geraldton
- Monday July 26, 11-1pm, Eric Farrow Pavilion, Wagin
- Monday July 26, 5-7pm, Merredin Leisure Centre, Merredin
- Tuesday July 27, 12-2pm, Dalwallinu Recreation Centre, Dalwallinu
- Tuesday July 27, 5-7pm, Bridgeley Community Centre, Northam
- Thursday July 29, 12-2pm, Albany Masters Builder Association, Albany
- Tuesday August 3, 12-2pm, Noel White Centre (part of the Esperance Leisure Centre), Esperance.
"This will form part of the next stage of a business case our government will submit to Infrastructure Australia, which will guide future packages of funding."
Ms Saffioti said the State government had worked with the Commonwealth to secure $160 million for the first instalment of the WA Agricultural Supply Chain Program and that the State government's funding contribution to the package would be announced as part of September's State Budget.
"This builds on top of the $22m election commitment we made to upgrade four rail siding upgrades at Cranbrook, Broomehill, Brookton and Moora," Ms Saffioti said.