Broken Hill Council has received an additional $4.98 million in funding to improve the town’s airport, under the New South Wales Government’s Resources For Regions program.
This money will be used to reconstruct the airport’s taxi-ways and aprons to accommodate extra aircraft storage and movement at the airport, and improve safety and access for Royal Flying Doctor Service aircraft.
The upgrades follow $2.4 million worth of New South Wales Government-funded works that were recently completed at the airport, including all new fencing, cabling, PAPI radio navigation infrastructure, and path indicator lighting.
Broken Hill Council General Manager, Jay Nankivell, said the upgrades represent another step in the right direction with regard to the much-needed overhaul of the city’s airport, and thanked the New South Wales Government for their generous support.
“Council staff have been pursuing Government funding for airport upgrades for many years, so it’s great to see the level of support we’ve received from the New South Wales Government over the past few years,” Mr Nankivell said.
“The challenge for us now is to continue the fight for funding to upgrade the airport runway and security so we can handle larger aircraft such as Boeing 737s.
“There’s going to be a significant increase in demand for air travel in the coming years as major mining and energy projects ramp up in the region, and it is critical that Broken Hill’s airport infrastructure can handle that growth.”
Mr Nankivell said Council is also seeking another $5 million in funding through the Federal Government’s Regional Airport Fund, however outcomes from that funding stream have not yet been announced.
