Page 1333 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 5 May 2015
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Then the proposed Tennent Dam hangs over the heads of the rural community south of Tharwa. To add more insult to injury, the continuing failure to heed the lessons from the 2003 bush fires places a depressing cloud over the neglected rural ACT.
Tharwa and the ACT rural community as a whole is certainly a community under siege and ignored for twenty years.
The question remains: how much more can this rural community take? Will this gem of the south ever be given a break by this current government, and what does the future hold for it?
Some would say the closure of the Tharwa bridge in 2006 and the protracted decision-making process which was presided over by the Stanhope-led government started a snowball effect of decline for the village. This township was effectively cut off from the rest of the ACT for 18 months before a decision was even made to restore the bridge, leaving residents and visitors high and dry. This, on the back of the closure of the Tharwa primary school, added salt to the wounds. In more recent times, the lack of a decision about water security measures for Tharwa is again putting this iconic rural village on hold.
In another piece of correspondence sent to me by a Tharwa resident entitled, “There is much work to be done”, the resident raises issues of the water supply to Tharwa and calls on a pipeline from Banks, taking in Lanyon, Tharwa and a possible extension to Cuppacumbalong. The letter states that the existing declining system is at the end of its life, with access to the river being prohibitive and the equipment reaching the end of its operational time frame.
The resident also raises issues around the proliferation of road signs, which is causing much clutter on what is supposedly the gateway to a national park. He raises issues about antisocial behaviour that is becoming more and more common in the rural village of Tharwa as the urbanised portions of Tuggeranong have reached closer and closer. He raises the issue of the need to upgrade and seal the Adaminaby Road and Smiths Road:
There has been little if any extension of the asphalt and sealed areas of these vital rural roads since the advent of self government. These roads are carrying a massive increase in traffic in that time as visitors to the Snowy region via the Adaminaby Road has proliferated turning this narrow gravel road into a dangerous trip. The Smith’s Road now carries extensive traffic to and from the NSW block area as people commute to work and the city. Although the bulk of traffic on these roads is through traffic to and from NSW, the ACT has an urgent obligation to meet its responsibilities to this important rural infrastructure.
Another issue this constituent raises is the need for further upgrades to be carried out to Angle Crossing, over the Murrumbidgee River, noting that little work has been done to upgrade this important river crossing in over 50 years.
There has been much debate in this place about the effectiveness or otherwise of the master planning process. In the case of the promised master plan for Tharwa, we may
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