Blowout leaves Rockhampton Ring Road hanging

The Federal Government has confirmed the Rockhampton Ring Road will not go ahead as planned after a $700 million pricing blowout. Coalition MP Colin Boyce, the Federal Member for Flynn, slammed the Labor government over the move, saying it appeared to be happy to strip critical funding from regional projects and pump the money into metropolitan areas. “Enough delays, the Federal Labor Government need to cough up the funding for the Rockhampton Ring Road and get on with building it as soon as possible,” he said. But a spokeswoman for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister Catherine King argued that it was not a matter of funding being delayed, rather a case a moving to when the project could really be delivered. "This is a project that cannot be delivered in the current time frame," the spokeswoman said. "The Queensland Government put the project out to tender and the lowest cost that came back was $700 million above the $1 billion funding to be provided by the Australian and Queensland Governments. "In this economic climate with rising inflation and constraints on the number of construction workers and the supply of materials, both the Australian and Queensland Governments agree it is not possible to build the Ring Road in the proposed time frame." Federal Member for Flynn Colin Boyce (centre) fronts the media along with Member for Capricornia Michelle Landry, Senator Matthew Canavan and Senator Bridget McKenzie to talk about Rockhampton Ring Road funding. Previous government announcements indicated that successful contractors would be appointed in mid to late 2022 and the project would reach completion in 2026. It had attracted funding commitments of $852 million from the Federal Government and $213 million from the State. The ring road will link the Bruce Highway through Rockhampton extending from the Capricorn Highway (Nelson St), to the Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road/Bruce Highway intersection and will include a new crossing of the Fitzroy River at Pink Lily. Capricorn Enterprise chief executive officer Mary Carroll described the Rockhampton Ring Road as an absolute necessity for the existing and future growth of the region. "...And as the remaining national highway pinch point in Queensland between Brisbane and Cairns it absolutely cannot and should not be delayed,” she said National Party Queensland Senator Matt Canavan said all the delay would do is push up the cost of the project until Labor put it in the ‘too hard’ basket.

Blowout leaves Rockhampton Ring Road hanging

Industry Queensland

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