Cairns to get an additional $230,000 in disaster funding

Cairns Regional Council will receive an extra $230,387 in disaster assistance to help pay for repairs to damage sustained during monsoonal rain and flooding in February and March 2008.

Presenting the council with the cheque today (January 22), Local Government Minister Warren Pitt said the funding brought the total disaster grant provided to Cairns for the flooding event to $7,263,450.

“Parts of the council’s local road network suffered significant damage during the severe flooding event early last year,” Mr Pitt said.

“Getting the local road network back in operational condition was not only a huge job, it was also extremely important to enable the local community to get around the area unhindered.

“Many of the damaged roads required hundreds of thousands of dollars of restoration works each, so it was important for the government to step in quickly and help the council with these costs.”

Mr Pitt said the additional funds would help to cover the cost of emergency works including debris removal, repairs to landslips, washouts and scours, drainage repairs and traffic control.

“Obviously, the cost of some of these repair works was beyond the council’s financial capability.

“That is why the State and Commonwealth governments have made more than $7.2 million in funding available. Cairns Regional Council has also played its part by contributing $831,000 towards the repair costs.”

Mr Pitt said the funding was provided through the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements program, a joint State and Commonwealth initiative.