The Civil Contractors Federation South Australia (CCF SA) has forecast a robust future for the sector as they welcome the State Government’s commitment to a record $17.9 billion in today’s budget for infrastructure projects that will deliver jobs and improvements to the lives of all South Australians.

Federation Chief Executive, Ms Rebecca Pickering said it was now time to get the jobs moving and maintain the momentum in the State with a slate of projects that have been on the table for a while, and are now funded with a four-year forecast of investment.

“We are ready, across a range of industries in our sector, and we have the expertise right here in SA to take these budget commitments, along with unlocked Federal support, to deliver tremendous value to our community,” she said.

She said the fact the government was making the largest commitment to infrastructure spending in the State’s history was evidence of how important building, maintaining and developing infrastructure was to the state’s economy and the fabric of life across South Australia.

Ms Pickering pointed to the large number of road upgrades and projects earmarked in this budget as evidence of the inadequate focus on roads in the past causing a backlog, that in some cases requires complete reconstruction due to years of poor maintenance.

“Our priority remains to push both Federal and State Governments to maintain this significant infrastructure with appropriate levels of annual funding.

“Although 2021-2022 road maintenance increases in some areas, we are still some way from the $1 billion per annum required to maintain our roads,” she said.

“We are eagerly awaiting the finer detail now that the Government has boosted confidence and shown they are listening to our recommendations as we advocate for current and future projects that help make South Australia one of the greatest places in the world to live,” Ms Pickering said.

CCF SA will support the pipeline of dozens of projects, as thousands of jobs are created, by helping collaborate across the many essential trades and businesses that will be required to deliver these projects.

“We are excited that the local civil industry, including road constructors, pipelayers, traffic management, civil suppliers, quarries, resource recovery centres, mobile plant, transport operators, to name just a few, and their workers can start gearing up now for the mountain of work coming their way.