A year after the last significant funding announcement for a major freight hub at Bomen, the project still needs $30 million to finally get it over the line.
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City strategy manager Tristan Kell said Wagga City Council had been working with the state government on finalising an application for the final $30 million in funding needed to complete the long-awaited Riverina Intermodal Freight and Logistics Hub.
A spokesman for the Department of Planning, Industry and Development confirmed on Friday council's application was still being assessed through the government's Growing Local Economies program.
In August 2018 - in the lead-up to the Wagga byelection - NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced the government would chip in $14.4 million for a 5.8-kilometre rail siding.
This siding would service the main terminal at the planned Bomen hub and provide a connection to the main railway southern line.
Ms Berejiklian's announcement came just days after Wagga City Council announced that Visy Logistics had signed an agreement to pay for - and later run - a freight terminal. The project is expected to cost between $5 and $10 million.
Work on other parts of the freight hub was originally expected to start in late 2019, a timetable that remains largely in place, with work now likely to begin in the coming summer.
While this project is still awaiting final funding, Deputy Premier John Barilaro in January announced that Bomen would be only the second location in the state for a so-called special activation precinct, which would have streamlined planning processes to encourage businesses to relocate or expand.
Currently, a masterplan for this special activation precinct is being developed and work is likely to begin in coming months.
Committee 4 Wagga chief executive officer Alan Johnston said the freight hub remained a huge project, with benefits not just for the city, but the whole region.
Mr Johnston remained confident it would go ahead, particularly in light not only of Bomen's new designation as a special activation precinct, but also because Wagga has also been tagged by the state government as a centre likely to see its population grow to 100,000 in the next three decades.
"I think these to developments will be happening separately, but concurrently," he said.
