Bega Valley Shire Council's dedicated emergency and restorations works team oversaw repairs to damaged transport infrastructure and other public assets valued at more than $30 million in 2020.
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"Five natural disasters were declared across the shire in 2019 and 2020, which took an enormous toll on roads, bridges, retaining walls, drains and other critical infrastructure," council's infrastructure recovery manager, Shaun Bell said.
"In 2020, council identified 411 emergency work projects, which included maintenance grades, clearing of silt and debris from roads and drains, repair of bridges and other crossing structures and removal of dangerous trees.
"The 313 projects completed so far have been valued at $3.9million. Removal of dangerous trees and debris is ongoing and expected to be completed by June 2021. Within the road reserve, 1,163 transport infrastructure damages have been identified. To date, 52 reconstruction projects have been completed, valued at more than $1.3million.
"Planning and delivery of the remaining $28million in repair work is underway with a number of major bridge replacement projects scheduled to commence shortly."
Most works were jointly funded by commonwealth and state governments under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements and completed using local contractors. Member for Bega, Andrew Constance said following the string of natural disasters, he is pleased to see council getting on with works.
"It's a huge task at hand, but we have great people working very hard to get our infrastructure back to where we need. What our region endured was nothing short of catastrophic, the damage to infrastructure and lives spread far and wide."
Council's rebuild priority is now focused on damage to major roads and critical infrastructure such as bridges, retaining walls and drainage structures. Rebuilding of Wandella Hall, Kiah Hall, Cobargo public toilets and Wonboyn bridge will also progress in 2021.
