Budget boost for city’s future

TENS of millions of dollars have been allocated for a number of projects in the City of Greater Dandenong in the 2010/11 State Government budget.
The proposed spending is part of the ongoing project to turn the city into a major business and transport hub in Melbourne’s southeast.
The latest budget allocated $49 million for the revitalisation project, as well as funding for Dandenong Hospital emergency department, extra beds in the new mental health facility, funding for a new automotive logistics centre at Chisholm TAFE and school projects.
A government spokesman said $1 million has been allocated for a study into the Dandenong rail corridor to determine which intersections would be most in need of a grade separation, which is an overpass or underpass of a road and a railway. Dandenong MP John Pandazopoulos said a record amount of money was invested into Dandenong in the past few years and he was pleased to see more funding for major projects included in the latest budget.
“In reality, we have never seen this sort of money coming into Dandenong,” he said.
Though he was pleased with the funding announcements, Mr Pandazopoulos said there were some projects in the area he would like to see considered in next year’s budget, including an expansion of the Dandenong court and a new TAFE campus opposite the railway station. – Lia Bichel