SA govt allocates a further $19m to help fix EP roads

The District Council of Kimba, District Council of Franklin Harbour and District Council of Cleve will each share in $19 million, after requesting further extraordinary assistance to help repair roads in the region.

The state government will also increase the level of assistance provided to individual repair costs from the original 75 per cent of the total cost to 90pc.

Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David Basham said the extra funding follows disaster recovery assistance being made available to 14 councils in northern, central and western parts of the state through the jointly-funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

"This extra support will enable these local councils to immediately undertake critical repair works," he said.

"In some cases, there has been water over roads two weeks after the event, roads that are impassable or that have been washed away completely. We will continue to work with the Federal Government, local councils and regional communities to deliver the assistance that's needed."

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Member for Flinders Peter Treloar said the extra funding would be welcomed.

"The extent of the damage to the local road network and amount of repairs and reconstruction required would be a significant financial burden for these smaller regional councils," he said.

"With seeding activities due to start on the EP in the coming months, it's critical for local farming communities to have road access restored."

Grain Producers SA chief executive officer Brad Perry said GPSA had lobbied for the council funding increase.

"We are pleased to see the state government has listened to graingrowers and the farming community on road repair support. I hope to see damaged roads on the EP fixed to a high standard, as seeding is not far off," he said.