IT was hard hats and high-vis for NSW Premier Mike Baird, Roads Minister Duncan Gay and the region’s Liberal politicians at the site office for the Foxground-Berry Princes Highway upgrade today,

Mr Baird and Mr Gay, flanked by Kiama MP Gareth Ward and South Coast MP Shelley Hancock, visited the project’s site office on the northern outskirts of Berry last Thursday for the ceremonial sod turning for the $580 million project. 

Weather permitting, the 11.6 kilometre project is set to be open to traffic in 2018 and will see the Princes Highway upgraded to dual-carriage way in both directions. 

Mr Baird said seeing the project underway was a proud day for his government.

‘‘This is a very proud day, it’s a $580 million project which is the biggest investment in the Princes Highway,’’ he said. 

‘‘It’s long overdue, but we’ve found a way to do it and we’re proud to do it, it’s great for this community and it’s great for the state.’’

Mr Baird said the project has been fully funded and is confident that the project would be delivered on time and on budget

The premier also defended the funding measures for the project, including $170 million generated from the long-term leasing of Port Kembla when he was Treasurer. 

‘‘That ($170 million) comes from Restart NSW, the money that has come from asset transactions, the long term leasing of the ports have put net proceeds into that, the $170 million comes from the lease and the balance from the roads budget. ‘‘You can’t just make projects happen, you need to have the money, as I went through with the roads minister some of the priorities in the state this was a key priority and we thought from this lease we could use part of the money in the RMS, part of the money from the (lease) proceeds and actually deliver this project.’’

While Mr Gay said the project was an important step in reducing the burden on the Berry community and the commuters who use the stretch of highway, it may be some time before the similar burden is removed from residents and commuters at Albion Park Rail and could be dependent on whether the government can carry out its plans to privatise the states electricity poles and wires.  

‘‘Albion Park is an important issue, it is an area we need to look at and it’s certainly one of the areas where we’re currently doing exploratory work to come up with costings,’’ he said. 

‘‘It’s one that should be considered if we win government and are able to lease poles and wires.’’

The minister also said the state government is continuing to lobby for increased federal government funding for the highway. 

‘‘Currently the New South Wales Government, with the exception of $10 million for pre-planning on the bridge at Nowra, is funding all of the Princes Highway. 

‘‘I’m looking forward to continuing the dialogue with Canberra to see if we can get down to Albatross declared a major highway and spring in funding not only from the state, but the Federal Government.’’