This week Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced $1.12 million for road safety projects in Taranaki - with $770,000 of this secured for the Stratford District.

District Mayor, Neil Volzke says this funding is a huge win for our community. “As well as improving our roads, this funding injection will create nine jobs across five projects.”

The Provincial Growth Fund funding is paying for approximately 81% of the total project costs, with Council covering the balance of the $890,000 worth of work.

The funding will see improvements made to Beaconsfield Road ($150,000), Manaia Road ($150,000), Opunake Road ($150,000), Monmouth Road ($200,000) and Palmer Road ($120,000).

“It will make a significant difference to getting the job done sooner and helping people back into work,” says Mayor Volzke.

Work on the roading projects is scheduled to start in early July with a total delivery period of approximately six months.

During the Covid-19 response period, Council applied for financial assistance on a number of larger infrastructure projects that could be beneficial to our economy if started sooner.

“We submitted a total of $39 million worth of projects to the Government for consideration as it looks to get the New Zealand economy back on track,” says Mayor Volzke.

These projects have been reviewed by Government for funding support, with further announcements yet to be made on the pool development and Brecon Road project.

The full list of projects Council applied for, include:

· $15.6m for the pool development

· $11m for a bridge on Brecon Road

· $3.2m on a new drinking water reservoir

· $3.3m towards a secondary trunk water main and improvements to the existing trunk water main for Stratford town supply

· $1.8m towards improvements at Victoria Park including a Children’s Bike Park and half basketball court

· $3.8m on a number of road safety, strengthening and improvement projects.

© Scoop Media