The Rudd Labor Government has today signed off on $659,000 to build a stormwater retention basin, which will help contain water overflow during flash flooding in Broken Hill.

The funding will be delivered from the $800 million Community Infrastructure Program – the single largest investment in local infrastructure in Australia’s history.

Broken Hill City Council will be funded to build a stormwater retention basin at the intersection of Mercury and Graphite Streets -- in line with the 2006 Broken Hill Urban Stormwater Master Plan.

The basin is expected to reduce flood risk significantly along the flow paths downstream from the Railwaytown catchment.

The Council’s preliminary modelling indicates that this storage facility will help reduce flood levels from 1 in 50 year flows to 1 in 5-year flows.

I am pleased to be able to approve funding so quickly for Broken Hill. Without federal funding, projects like this would have remained in the ‘too-hard’ basket.

The Community Infrastructure Program is aimed squarely at stimulating local economies and helping communities respond to the global financial crisis.

Investing in local projects that are ready to go is a great way to generate construction activity. It will also deliver much-needed infrastructure to improve the quality of life in local communities.

The Rudd Government is determined to act decisively with local communities to support jobs and improve the quality of local infrastructure.

More than 3,600 projects have been submitted under the first round of the Community Infrastructure Program and the Rudd Government is getting on with the job of rolling out projects in local communities.