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SA Govt must commit to addressing capacity constraints: SARTA

Transport operators will soon learn how the South Australian Government plans to address a range of issues currently affecting freight

Transport operators will soon learn how the South Australian Government plans to address a range of issues currently affecting freight productivity when Minister for Transport Patrick Conlon addresses the South Australian Road Transport Association (SARTA) State Conference on February 16.

SARTA Executive Director Steve Shearer says attendees will be keen to hear how the Government will secure federal funding for road construction and maintenance, which is badly needed due to the Federal Government’s “paltry and grossly inadequate” $500 million commitment for South Road.

There is concern road funding for South Australia is under threat with Shearer arguing the advent of Infrastructure Australia will result in an uneven amount of funds being poured into eastern states.

SARTA will also be expecting Conlon to announce an increase in road funding, as well as to look at ways of combating chronic driver shortages through a range of schemes involving immigration, running school-based career information sessions and improving the driver licensing regime.

Furthermore, Conlon needs to commit to resolving “key logistics bottlenecks” as well ensuring the most productive truck configurations are being used, according to Shearer.

Shearer says the Government must commit to these initiatives in order to ensure South Australia can cater to the growing freight task.

“There will be 100 percent more road freight by 2020,” he says.

“The State’s economy will be held back and the State will fail to be competitive in the coming years if solutions for these issues are not in place by 2010.”

The conference is to be held at 9am at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

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