Case Studies

Background

The Fixing Country Roads (FCR) program exists to provide grants to rural and regional councils to undertake local road projects beyond regular road maintenance and was developed to enhance the connectivity, reliability, and efficiency of regional communities through projects.  

Round two of the FCR program provided a combined $70 million to all 48 rural and regional Local Government Areas (LGA) in Victoria. 133 projects were delivered by councils across the state in 2019/20 to improve the local road network. FCR State Government funds are provided to LGA based on a 2:1 or 1:1 contribution by rural and regional Council’s respectively.  

The ability to leverage the direct regional stimulus across each region directly relates to local capability, specifically access to skills and employment in Heavy & Civil Engineering Construction and supporting supply chains within each region. 

Project Goals

Identify the potential direct and indirect economic contributions for rural and regional Victorian LGAs from FCR investments in terms of output/revenue ($M), employment, and value-added ($M).  

Assess the economic impact of the program’s investments of round two to inform budget consideration of a future round three of the FCR.  

Assess a proposed round three impact scenario of $110 million to understand the economic impact for Regional Victoria. 

REMPLAN’s Involvement

REMPLAN undertook an economic analysis using our regional economic modelling and analysis system. REMPLAN economic data is applied for 48 LGA’s incorporating data sourced from the ABS 2016 Census, 2016/2017 ABS National Input/Output Tables, and ABS Gross State Product.  

The economic modelling did not factor any shocked to the economy experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Results

Round two: Total impact across rural and regional LGAs from FCR investments in local road maintenance and upgrades. These investments deliver individual economic benefits in rural Victorian LGAS for between:  

• $1.560 to $10.820 million (total output) 

• 1 to 26 jobs (total employment benefit) 

• $0.255 to $4.571 million in value added 

Round 3: The total economic benefits for Regional Victoria for single year of a proposed FCR investment of $110 million is as follows: 

• Total output is estimated at $229.700 million 

• Employment, including from direct and indirect activity, is estimated at up to 598 jobs 

• Total value added is estimated at $96.747 million