The long-discussed new primary school for Wagga looks like it is about to become a reality.
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In the state budget, mention is made of a new primary school for the city, although a dollar figure and the location of the school is yet to be announced.
The budget papers put the location of the school at “Charles Sturt University”, but do not provide more details.
There has long been speculation that a new school would be built at Estella.
In the budget papers, there are no start or completion dates listed and under budget allocation, the cost is simply listed as “n.a”.
The budget has also allocated $20 million for the 2018-19 financial year as part of the $170 million which the government has previously allocated to stage three of the Wagga Base Hospital development.
In June 2017, the NSW Government included stage three in the budget for 2017-18, with an allocation of $170 million.
This follows the completion of the first two stages at a cost of $282 million.
Member for Wagga Daryl Maguire said the budget had provided other cash injections for the city, including an allocation of $1.9 million to Wagga City Council for roads under the community transport program and $80,000 for work on the Lake Albert foreshore.
A total of $6 million was allocated as part of the $35 million earmarked for the Griffith Base Hospital redevelopment.
A hefty $19.5 million was also set aside in the budget for the Gocup Road upgrade.
As expected, Mr Maguire said the budget announcement confirmed the $10 million allocated for the building of new Wagga Police Citizens Youth Club and $1 million for a redevelopment of the Adelong police station.
While Mr Maguire welcomed the budget announcements, Labor MLC for Wagga Daniel Mookhey was unimpressed.
“This is not the budget Wagga was hoping for,” Mr Mookhey said.
“While this budget locks in spending $2.2 billion on Sydney stadiums, it also reveals that only $20 million has been allocated to stage three of the Wagga hospital redevelopment and its completion date has been pushed back to 2022.”
“The Coalition Government has said $170 million will be needed for stage three and has never mentioned that it will run into the next decade.”
