Central Highlands Infrastructure Projects
Central Highlands Regional Council is a local government in regional Queensland with a population of just under 30,000 people and a land area of almost 6 million hectares.
Central Highlands Infrastructure Projects
TransportBackground
The Central Highlands Regional Council had identified a range of priority infrastructure projects throughout their municipality. The projects varied in type and geographical location and consisted of:
- An airport general aviation upgrade
- A waste water treatment plant upgrade
- A waste water irrigation extension
- Road floodway works
- Bicycle network enhancement
- A rail siding project in a key enterprise area
Due to the extent and combined cost of the projects, Council were seeking funding assistance to be able to complete the infrastructure improvements in a timely manner.
Project Goals
Council was seeking, at a minimum, like for like funding from higher levels of government.
Funding rounds are highly competitive. Council recognised the need for credible and convincing business cases to be developed that supported their applications. The focus of the applications were for a specific State Government fund, however the Council also wanted to be able to use the analysis prepared in the business cases to submit with other funding applications.
REMPLAN’s Involvement
Using the REMPLAN Economic Impact Modelling tool and Rapid Cost/Benefit tool, REMPLAN undertook detailed economic impact assessment and cost benefit analysis for each individual project. Quantifying was a key element of each project. REMPLAN was able to quantify such things as travel time savings and benefits of cycling which could be applied to economic models.
Each business case also incorporated customised geographic and demographic analysis.
For each respective project, REMPLAN was either engaged directly by Council or was working with other lead consultants to help in delivering respective business cases.
Results
Central Highlands Council was successful in receiving funding for all projects with a combined value of over $20 million. The nature of the business cases that were developed enabled the council to use the analysis in applications to various grant programs.
Council was able to leverage their own contributions to undertake a greater range of projects in a shorter time frame than would have been possible without funding support, achieving positive outcomes for their local residents and businesses.
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