Successful and satisfying year for Council’s Capital Works Program

AN ANNUAL report on South Gippsland Shire Council’ Capital Works Program for 2015/16 was presented to councillors last Wednesday, bringing to light what has been deemed as a highly successful program which has delivered a broad scope of projects right across the shire.

Included in the many projects delivered in the Corner Inlet area was the Construction / rehabilitation of the three bridges (AgTrans) on the Black Spur section of the Great Southern Rail Trail (GSRT). These works were completed in time for the official opening in early March 2016.

The Mayor Cr Bob Newton suggested that if, at any stage, the bridges are going to be named, he would like to propose that one of them be named the ‘Eric Cumming Bridge’ in honour of what Mr Cumming did for the community in getting the Rail Trail up and running.

Significant savings from this project have been directed towards the reconstruction of the Trail from Welshpool to Port Welshpool and the construction of a new asphalt path along the foreshore in Port Welshpool which was completed by Fowlers Asphalting in February 2016.

Savings from the Toora to Welshpool section of the Rail Trail have been directed to the GSRT Marketing and Branding project, which includes the new website which is being developed by Council’s Community Strengthening Team, sealing the Fish Creek carpark area adjacent to the Trail, and the signage contract for the entire 70km of the GSRT. The signage contract was awarded to ADA Construction Services Pty Ltd in early July 2016 and works are expected to be completed by November 2016.

The Yanakie Recreation Reserve Development Project and Meeniyan Recreation Reserve Youth Space Project were completed within budget.

The two new public toilets at Tarwin Lower and Waratah Bay were completed, replacing existing facilities were advertised as separate contracts as Waratah Bay required further consultation with the local community over the location of the replacement facility.

The Tarwin Lower facility was completed by GR Design & Construct Pty Ltd in early March 2016. However, works on the Waratah Bay structure were delayed due to the consultation process described above and the fact that no tenders were received when the contract was first advertised before Christmas 2015. The project was re-tendered and awarded to Considine & Johnston with work due to be completed by early September 2016.

The Foster Streetscape Project was deferred to 2016/17 due to the need to complete a business case prior to submitting the grant application to Regional Development Victoria (RDV).

The Parks Victoria Agnes Falls project is included on the Capital Works Program as Council has been requested to deliver this project. The project has been deferred to the 2016/17 financial year as no grant funding has been secured as yet.

Projects delivered elsewhere within the shire were many and varied and included:

• Major works at the Koonwarra Landfill where the challenging Cell 4 project was completed despite the impact of challenging weather, and was successful in achieving significant savings due to EPA concessions. Cell 4 was completed approximately $200,000 below the original budget of $1.85 million which was seen as an excellent result despite experiencing weather delays.
• The Karmai Community Children’s Centre which was jointly funded by Council ($2.045 million), the Federal Government ($1.6 million), State Government ($1.6 million), and with a significant contribution of $100,000 from the Karmai Gommunityfootpath;
• Rural road rehabilitation works at Wooreen, Buffalo and Dollar;
• The redevelopment of the Leongatha Skate Park – which was delivered under budge.;

According to the report, it is estimated that 98 per cent of the program budget was expended in 2015/16 (for projects delivered by Engineering and Assets / Operations Departments).

The Federal Government’s Blackspot Program and the public toilets projects (Tarwin Lower and Waratah Bay) were not included in the original budget and have been added since the commencement of the financial year.

This calculation takes account the outstanding works as at June 30, 2016 including paving and asphalting works on John Street – Korumburra, the remaining path works

at Tarwin Lower, works on the Koonwarra Landfill Cell 4, and Waratah Bay toilet, all of which were completed during July / August 2016. This is considered to be an excellent outcome for the Capital Works Program delivery performance.

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