Applications open for $70 million Building our Regions program

The $70 million round six of the Palaszczuk Government’s hugely successful Building Our Regions program has officially opened.

Expressions of interest have opened for regional local governments to put forward construction projects focused on priority regional water supply and sewerage system projects.

Minister for Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water Glenn Butcher said the funding provided vital support to regional local governments for necessary projects that could often face funding challenges.

“This round of Building Our Regions is important to support jobs as we build back from the COVID-19 pandemic, while also delivering critical infrastructure projects in regional Queensland,” Mr Butcher said.

“Getting funding for these projects will help regional local governments deliver improved services to ratepayers and provide significant benefits to their communities.

“Some of our smaller local governments especially can find it difficult to raise funds for projects that are important, but not necessarily as obvious to ratepayers.”

Mr Butcher said the guidelines for Round 6 had recently been released giving eligible regional local governments an opportunity to consider projects that might qualify for funding.

“Local governments can apply for up to $2 million in funding to support a range of construction and works projects over three years,” he said.

“Later this year small and very small local governments will also be able to apply for funding of up to $300,000 for planning of projects that will help determine the right solution to address a water or sewerage service issue.”

The Building our Regions program has a long and successful history of supporting Queensland’s local governments to invest in essential regional infrastructure and create flow-on economic development opportunities and jobs.

Previous rounds of Building our Regions have seen more than $348 million of funding approved towards 271 projects across 67 local government areas.

These projects have leveraged over $539 million in additional funding from other sources for a total capital expenditure of over $887 million, supporting an estimated 2770 construction jobs.

More information on Building Our Regions is available here.

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Media contacts:

Minister Butcher – Daniel Lato - 0438 891 158