PM vows cash splash for Victorian roads

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has made a major roads funding announcement in Melbourne, urging the state government to get on board.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has vowed to spend $140 million to bust traffic congestion in Victoria, asking the the state government to match the commitment.

The federal investment, announced on Wednesday, would spend $50 million on the Calder Freeway between Sunbury and the M80 Ring Road, and $50 million to ease traffic on the Hume Freeway.

Another $10 million has been pledged to ease congestion on roads in Eltham, with $30 million to upgrade Ballarto Road in Skye.

The Victorian Government has been called to match funding for all but the last project.

"I want people to spend less time stuck in traffic jams and more time at home with their families and working in their businesses," Mr Morrison said.

The funding announcement has already been budgeted, he added.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he would look at the details of the projects, and was chuffed the nation's leader was thinking about Victoria.

"It's a fair share that we need and we are a fair way short of that even with the last-minute election giveaways offered by the prime minister today," he said.

"I would have thought if you wanted a true partnership you wouldn't have had the premier of the state learning about this road plan by reading the newspaper."

Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien said Mr Andrews needs to "stump up his share of the cash" to get the projects done.

"Daniel Andrew is the ... master of tying a demand around a brick and throwing it through the federal government's window with a lot of different major infrastructure projects," he said.

"Given the amount of money Daniel Andrews has wasted on cost blow-outs, the least he can do is find this money to match what the federal government wants to do."

Mr Andrews, along with several other Victorian Labor MPs, called on the Commonwealth to release from its coffers $3 billion set aside for the state's failed East West Link.


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Source: AAP


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PM vows cash splash for Victorian roads | SBS News