COUNCIL has been left frustrated waiting more than nine months for crucial funding on a huge freight project promising to bring thousands of jobs to town.
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In November, Tamworth Regional Council was handed a novelty cheque worth $7.4 million to kick-start the vaunted intermodal freight hub.
However, council is still yet to receive a single cent of this funding from the state government.
Mayor Col Murray has listed the project as a priority in his last two years on council and aired his disappointment at the delay.
“We’ve got some pretty exciting projects getting closer to fruition now,” Cr Murray said.
“Things like our pilot training academy, things like our intermodal terminal.
“I’ve been hopeful for I don’t know how long now to get that money released from NSW government.
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We’ve been waiting now since November ... and we’re very, very frustrated.
- Mayor Col Murray
“We’ve been waiting now since November last year when it was announced and we’re very, very frustrated but we think we’re getting closer to the end.”
Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson didn’t share the mayor’s level of concern over the funding delays.
“These projects always take time,” Mr Anderson said.
“People expect things to happen instantly, if you announce it on Friday, it happens on Monday.”
Mr Anderson said council still had hand-over “volume data” on what produce and cargo would be moved through the terminal once its built.
“This is taxpayers’ money and it’s a lot of money,” he said.
“We have to make sure it will stack up and there has to be some due diligence done.”
Earlier this year, it was revealed council had extended the timeline on the project and added an extra year to its due-date.
Initially council wanted the project done by the second half of this year, now the first trains won’t roll out of the hub until August 2019.
The treasurer and the minister for freight were contacted for comment.