Engineer to lead state's billion dollar regional roads renewal program
The Victorian Government has recruited a water infrastructure specialist to oversee a major road maintenance blitz ahead of the state election in November.
Paul Northey, most recently the general manager of infrastructure services for Barwon Water, has been appointed the state’s chief regional roads officer and will head the new division of VicRoads from September.
As head of Regional Roads Victoria, Northey will oversee a planned $941 million investment in the state’s roads, with more than 1,000km of road to be repaired, resurfaced or rebuilt across country Victoria this year.
Read ATN‘s story about Victoria’s state budget for 2018-19 here.
“I have lived in regional Victoria for around 30 years, and I know first-hand how important safe and reliable roads are to the livelihood and productivity of regional communities,” Northey says.
“I’m looking forward to visiting communities across the state to talk about Regional Roads Victoria, and to learn more about their priorities as we upgrade the regional road network.”
Newly appointed VicRoads chief executive Michael Malouf says the agency is keen to start work on the upgrades.
“Regional Roads Victoria marks a significant shift in the way VicRoads manages the regional road network and we welcome Paul to this key position,” he says.
“Paul will hit the ground running in September as we get on with fixing regional roads across the state.”
State roads Minister Luke Donnellan says Northey has extensive experience delivering essential infrastructure services and understands the critical importance of a reliable and safe road network to regional Victorians.
To be based in Ballarat, Regional Roads Victoria will have a presence in regional centres across the state – aiming to provide a strong coordinated approach to road maintenance across the state.