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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Gerard Cockburn

Millions injected into road upgrades in Canberra's south

Senator Zed Seselja. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

The federal government is poised to pour millions of dollars to fast track and overhaul Canberra's road infrastructure and improve safety standards.

Roughly $75 million will be provided by the Commonwealth to upgrade roads and intersections in the southern end of the ACT, with the majority of the funds set aside to improve the Tuggeranong Parkway.

Projects already slated are also being brought forward to next year with the money set to be outlined as part of Treasury's mid-year economic fiscal outlook scheduled to be released on Thursday.

The additional funding includes $51.05 million for the south west corridor Tuggeranong Parkway in a bid to ease traffic congestion and improve safety.

A further $17.93 million has been set aside for intersection upgrades in Griffith, Conder, Theodore and Weston. While $5 million will be funneled into upgrades for approximately six to seven kilometres of Boboyan Road.

ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja flagged more than 40,000 commuters would benefit from the upgrades which have been brought forward by three years.

"We're focused on delivering projects to improve safety for all road users across the territory," Senator Seselja said.

"Major upgrades to the Tuggeranong Parkway have been fast-tracked by three years with works now set to get underway from 2022. The $51 million package from the Liberal-National government will deliver a series of congestion busting upgrades along the Parkway and surrounding roads for the 40,000 cars travelling to and from Canberra's south each day."

The ACT government has matched the funding for all the projects slated to be brought by the federal government.

The mid-year update will also include $41.9 million in financial support to the National Film and Sound Archives to save at risk collections.

Senator Seselja also noted the Boboyan Road upgrade will assist in improving access in and out of Namadgi National Park during bushfire seasons.

"Boboyan Road will also benefit from a $5 million package to deliver road re-surfacing and widening, soil stabilisation and drainage works, providing improved access through Namadgi National Park during bushfire seasons," he said.

The unveiling of MYEFO will show the impact of the Delta lockdown over the second half of the year and outline Treasury's most up to date projections on future economic growth.

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham lamented the future success of the economy would be underpinned by sustainable jobs growth.

"Getting even more people into work and continuing to grow the economy will be critical to delivering a sustainable budget recovery," Senator Birmingham said.

"Stronger jobs growth creates more taxpayers and fewer recipients of safety net payments, which is a virtuous cycle that reduces deficits."

The update of the state of the books will also show how much Australia's debt bill has grown due to further lockdowns and the implementation of COVID-19 disaster payments.

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