Council gets assurance of help to find $8m
A remote council in north-west Queensland’s Gulf of Carpentaria says it has been given an assurance that its airport will be repaired by the next wet season.
The Mornington Island airport was closed for five months earlier this year due to airstrip storm damage and it has only just resumed full operations.
Shire CEO Frank Mills said the runway would need to be storm-proofed during the dry season.
“This community’s life-blood is aeroplanes and without a runway it just makes everything so difficult,” he said.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads, which is currently conducting a remediation study, said the full repair could cost more than $8 million which, earlier this week, it said it was not prepared to finance.
However, Mr Mills said the department had now promised to help the council secure State Government funding.
“They’ll assist us to put together a package of funding from various funding agencies,” he said.
He said he hoped the Department of Local Government could help with the bill.
