I welcome the selection of Darwin-based construction company Norbuilt for the job of upgrading the Central Arnhem Road and improving all-year-round access to East Arnhem communities including Gapuwiyak and Nhulunbuy as well as the region’s cattle properties.
Expected to be completed in early 2014, this multi-million dollar fully-Federally funded project will involve laying a 14.4 kilometre long gravel road and erecting three new single lane bridges across the Goyder River floodplain.
Developed in consultation with the Northern Land Council, this package of works will reduce the average duration the road is impassable during the wet season from four months to just one or two weeks.
The Goyder River floodplain project is one part of the $40 million investment Federal Labor is making in the Central Arnhem Road.
But importantly, we are under no illusions about the scale of the challenge of ensuring all-year-round road access to local communities across northern Australia, particularly given the large distances involved and sheer volume of rainfall that occurs during the wet season.
All up, the Federal Labor Government is providing an unprecedented $637 million from our existing six-year Nation Building Program to renew and expand the Territory’s road infrastructure.  Indeed, we’ve nearly doubled annual Federal infrastructure spending from $275 to $458 per Territorian.
The attached map identifies the projects commencing or continuing during the course of the current financial year (2012/13).
 
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