All regional councils outside South East Queensland can participate in Round Two of the Royalties for the Regions (R4R) program.
Member for Burnett, Stephen Bennett announced the expansion of the R4R program today.
Round Two of R4R will open on July 15 with a total of 64 councils across regional Queensland, including Toowoomba, now eligible to apply for funding.
A total of $95 million is available to fund key community infrastructure and roads in Round Two. Forty six million dollars of this funding has been pre-committed to crucial road projects – Blakey’s Crossing in Townsville and the CBD ring-road and West Creek Rail Bridge in Toowoomba.
Mr Bennett said Royalties for the Regions had been confined to 14 councils in the initial pilot round and the government had decided to now extend it to all regional councils supporting the resource sector. This means that Bundaberg Regional Council is now eligible to apply.
“The main focus of Royalties for the Regions, however, remains on supporting infrastructure projects that respond to the most critical community needs that have resulted from resource sector activity,” he said.
“The department will be briefing eligible councils on funding priorities and eligibility criteria for this next round over the coming weeks to help ensure councils submit priority projects with the best chance of success.
“Royalties for the Regions is a $495 million four year initiative to support Queensland’s regions to provide critical community infrastructure, roads and flood mitigation projects.
“This will be followed by annual Royalties for the Regions Program commitment of $200 million.”
Mr Bennett said the results of Round One in 2012 were 18 successful projects across the state – six for community infrastructure, two for flood mitigation and 10 for road projects.
“Importantly Round One projects secured contributions of $9.7 million from industry, $6.7 million from councils and $12.4 million from other state and Commonwealth agencies,” he said.
“These projects will ultimately improve the liveability of those resource communities and help ensure they thrive and grow.”
Mr Bennett said after Round Two opens later this month, councils would have until early September to lodge Expressions of Interest for funding.
A shortlist of eligible projects for which detailed business cases will be needed will be compiled and approved by the end of the year.