Over $3 million on the table for Northern Inland Councils

Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI) has welcomed the announcement of $3.3 million to help build and renew local community infrastructure across the Northern Inland region as part of the latest round of the Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF).

Executive Officer for RDANI, Nathan Axelsson, said that this funding will be delivered through Round Five of RDAF and will be allocated to councils and shires that already receive Financial Assistance Grants, with up to $3.3 million being made available to the 13 Local Councils in the Northern Inland region.

The Government will provide a base payment of at least $30,000 to smaller councils to ensure that they benefit from this funding.

This funding can only be used to build and renew community infrastructure, with a focus on ‘shovel-ready’ projects in communities.

Sporting facilities, libraries, town halls, playgrounds and essential community services, such as child care facilities, are expected to benefit from this investment.

Mr Axelsson said that this funding built on previous funding already received by many Northern Inland communities through RDAF, over $13 million in rounds one to four.

“Our RDA committee participated in the assessment of projects for earlier rounds of RDAF. We are pleased that there is another opportunity for some of the viable and important projects to be funded so we would encourage Local Councils to submit applications for projects that have been the subject of expressions of interest or applications under previous RDAF rounds.

“This funding will also support jobs on the ground, resulting in a boost to our local economies.”

Applications for Round Five open on 21 June 2013 and close at 5:00pm (local time) on 22 July 2013.

More information on RDAF Round Five can be found at:

www.regional.gov.au/regional/programs/rdaf_round_five.aspx