By Jessica Micallef
The Bulla bypass and housing in the Macedon Ranges are among the winners of this year’s state budget.
The 2020-21 state budget includes $6.5 million to fund a Bulla Bypass business case. This funding will add to the previously funded duplication of Sunbury Road, which will have two lanes in each direction from Bulla-Diggers Rest Road to Powlett Street in Sunbury.
More than $66 million will go to the construction and expansion of 10 community hospitals across the state, including the expansion of the Sunbury Day Hospital.
Once complete, the expanded hospital will have extra treatment and plaster rooms, diagnostic services including x-ray, ultrasound and CT scans, a pharmacy and pathology lab and a separate reception and waiting area.
Construction is due to start in 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2023.
This year’s state budget also included $4.4 million to protect the historic Jacksons Hill site to maintain it’s buildings and surrounding land while a master plan for the site is developed. Sunbury West Primary School has been allocated $10.5 million and Diggers Rest Primary School has received $3.2 million.
Hume mayor Joseph Haweil welcomed the multi-million dollar allocations.
“The Bulla Bypass … is now progressing to ensure that once subsequent capital funding is made available, our residents will spend less time on the road and more time with their family and friends,” he said.
“A growing city like Hume needs to work in partnership with other levels of government to develop our community.”
In the Macedon Ranges, $12 million has been allocated to build a new exhibition space at the old Kyneton Primary School and to upgrade existing facilities. As part of the state government’s Big Housing Build, $30 million has been allocated to the Macedon Ranges to
deliver more affordable homes.
The budget also included $300 million to eradicate mobile black spots in populated areas in regional Victoria and $465 million to boost tourism to regional Victoria as part of the Victorian Tourism Recovery Package.
