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VICTORIAN Roads Minister Luke Donnellan has said the government is getting on with delivering the Western Highway duplication between Ararat and Buangor.
Last week, Ripon MP Louise Staley questioned Planning Minister Richard Wynne over progress at the troubled project.
Ms Staley said the duplication was at risk of being delayed for a year if work did not resume in the near future.
Mr Donellan said the project was moving forward.
“We're delivering this much needed duplication to support communities and the regional economy across Western Victoria,” he said.
“VicRoads’ submission is being considered by the Minister for Planning.
“We're getting on with this project and we will keep the community informed as we progress.”
EARLIER
THE Western Highway duplication between Buangor and Ararat could be set back by a year if work does not quickly resume.
That’s according to Ripon MP Louise Staley.
Ms Staley brought up the issue in Parliament last week via a question to Planning Minister Richard Richard Wynne.
“Has the minister approved the new incorporated document for section 2b of the Western Highway duplication, between Buangor and Ararat?” Ms Staley said in parliament.
“The planning document was disgracefully allowed to lapse in mid-2015, and reincorporation of that document is required to get the highway started again.
It is my information that there has been no work done on this section of the road, and it is now too late for it to be done in this coming road season, putting it back now by a further year.
“The contract has also lapsed. This has just become a spiralling debacle, with no roadworks continuing, so I ask the minister: has this incorporated document been approved?”
My Wynne appeared to have taken the question on notice and his office has been contacted for comment.
Work to duplicate the Western Highway was suspended indefinitely in February because VicRoads failed to renew an expired planning permit for the project.
The administrative blunder put the biggest regional road project in Victoria in limbo, because VicRoads had lost its authority to proceed with the next stage of the $675 million highway upgrade.
It is the latest in a series of costly errors made by the authority, which won environmental approval for an earlier stage of the project on the basis of a wildly inaccurate estimate that it would cut down no more than 221 large old trees.
It went on to destroy almost 900 such trees, which were classified as "of very high conservation significance".
In August, Ararat Rural City councillors gave support to Planning Amendment C37 for the Western Highway Project Section 2b between Buangor and Ararat.
However, councillors wanted Planning Minister Richard Wynne to take responsibility for administration and enforcement of the planning amendment.
Councillors agreed to give their support to the planning amendment with conditions for safety, transport connectivity between regional centres, safety and improved freight traffic management, and environmental impact mitigation and revegetation.
The duplication project has faced court challenges and legal threats over its claimed impacts on the environment and Indigenous cultural heritage.
- With Adam Carey, The Age.