David Wybar, Castlemaine
It seems the long anticipated Frederick Street upgrade is about to begin, but I am going to ask the question as to why are we rate payers having to cough up extra to foot the bill? Surely the gift of $12.19 million by the Federal Government should be enough to achieve some form of atheistic and functional outcome but apparently not.
The project design falls some $250,000 short (at this stage), but luck be on our side that our shire just happens to have a quarter of a million to spare to cover this.
Like many other major projects these days, it seems you no longer ‘Design to a Budget’ but you ‘Budget to the Design’ that inevitably leads to cost and time blow outs, all with the aim of achieving nothing other than the inclusion of what I call unnecessary egotistical ideologies in the hope of gaining some future legacy.
In this cost of living crisis where many of us have to settle for just the ‘necessary’ and not the ‘nice to have’, it’s a bit of an insult I feel, to again be seeing our hard earned money being used on a project that is going to deliver ‘what’ to really to help us residents?
Less rubbish being illegally dumped?
Less homeless people?
Less mobility devices on our roads?
Fixing that pot hole exiting the Market Building carpark?
Shall I go on?
