Community & Business
24 June, 2022
Council seeks range meeting with minister
MAREEBA Shire Council is seeking an urgent meeting with new Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King to discuss issues around Kuranda Range Road.
Prior to the 21 May election, the council had met with outgoing Minister Barnaby Joyce to discuss how transport access to the coast from the Northern Tablelands could be improved following the release of report by the State Government which revealed that an alternative route would not be required for another three decades.
After the document was released, Mareeba Mayor Angela Toppin said the study had fallen short in addressing the transport needs of the region and expressed concern that development in the region would be constrained as a result.
Mr Joyce visited Mareeba just days out from the election and promised $11 million for a business case study and preliminary evaluation, looking at viable alternatives to the failing range road.
As part of its election commitments, Labor pledged $210 million to undertake safety upgrades to the range road.
Now, Mareeba Shire is seeking to meet with Ms King to talk about the issues faced by the region due to the inadequacy of the range road as a main access route, with accidents closing the road regularly, including last Thursday when a crash shut the highway again for several hours.
