oads in Narromine severely damaged by continuous rain and then floodings need a significant cash injection to ensure surrounding communities economies don't “falter” according to the town’s mayor.

In response to a significant new funding promise by the state Liberal and National Government Mayor Craig Davies told the Western Plains App that many of these roads had been hit repeatedly by water damage they needed to be completely “remade from scratch”.

“We have over 1490 kilometres of roads in our region, half of them are bitumen, half are not. Many roads are really just close to ruin” he said “We need betterment schemes right across the shire to ensure these roads can withstand another onslaught of inclement weather”.

“The total cost of repairing all the damage to our roads would be somewhere in the order of at least $50 million” he said.

Davies was speaking to the Western Plains App in response to the NSW Government’s announcement of $1 billion it said in a statement would be used to “upgrade the roads communities use every day, fast-track freight and rebuild transport infrastructure after disaster”.

“This is a state-building initiative that will drive safety and drive productivity, ensuring people and products get where they need to – and that when disaster strikes, communities and supply chains remain connected,” Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole.

Late last month the Western Plains App reported on how a recent NRMA report showed Coonamble, Walgett, Bourke and Brewarrina all had significant road infrastructure backlogs after years of funding shortfall prior to the floods.

The NRMA's "Fix Our Broken Roads: NSW Infrastructure" report also said Gilgandra and Narromine shires have serious infrastructure backlogs

A spokesperson from the NRMA told the Western Plains App the total infrastructure funding shortfall was $1.9 billion before the floods and they are currently in the process of calculating what the new figure would be. The spokesperson told the Western Plains App the shortfall would be now be over $2 billion

Mayor of Gilgandra Shire, Doug Batten told the Western Plains App the total cost of fixing road damage from the floods in his region "was between eight and 20 million dollars".

There's potholes and there's potholes... This road in the Coonamble Shire is among many needing more than a patch. IMAGE: Coonamble Times

The Government have said if re-elected they will fund:

• A $400 million injection for Fixing Local Roads to help regional councils continue their work to repair, maintain and seal the roads their communities use every day.

• $300 million for the establishment of a new Fast Tracking Freight program to tackle freight pinch points on the road and rail network, better connect road and rail with key and emerging freight hubs and increase the capacity and reliability of the network.

• $300 million for a Build Back Better program to invest in more resilient state, regional and local road and transport infrastructure across regional NSW.

The NRMA spokesperson told the Western Plains App “Every cent counts, so this is another welcome announcement. 

"This money is really important to councils for the work they have to do get their roads back to where they need to be after the pummeling they have received”.

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Sam Farraway said “Betterment isn’t a last minute thought bubble or cash splash...International studies have shown for every $1 spent on mitigation, you save $10 in recovery”.

Shadow Minister for Regional Transport and Road Jenny Aitchison told the Western Plains App what she is hearing from the community is they want a fully planned road repair strategy, not the piecemeal approach being offered by the Government.

Mayor Craig Davies. Picture: Narromine council.

Mayor Davies said he was pleased the government was making significant investment after the “paltry” funding of the Local Roads Pothole Repair Program round that saw $50 million, the amount he says is needed just to fix the roads in his shire, divided between 94 councils

“I am actually very thrilled that state and federal governments have committed to increase funding for regional roads” because he said “our economies falter without proper road infrastructure”.

However he added that roads in metropolitan Sydney, particularly western Sydney still received a disproportionate amount of state road funding given they had not grapple with flood damage or ongoing infrastructure like many rural areas across the state.