9 / 12
section which will cost $11 million. This
will entail the construction of a high
level bridge over the railway line. Various
sections of this road will continue to be
delivered over the next five to ten years.
Road construction projects have
resulted in decongesting the city’s
centre.Additionally, theseprojectsserve
to develop areas which they go through.
Anexcellent example is the construction
of a new hospital built by the state
government in the south of the city.
The project is a $250 million
development and it has changed the
centre of gravity of the city. In fact
the road which is being upgraded to
the south of Orange will cater to the
additional traffic being generated
because of the construction of the
hospital. A private developer has put
forwardaproposal tobuildanother$200
million hospital in the area. Council is
actively encouraging this development.
These developments have had a
cascading effect and the average age
of the residents of the city has come
down significantly in the last few years
as people have moved to Orange
because of the new job opportunities
that have been created. A majority of
those who have moved to the city are
in the age group of 25 to 35. The local
universityhasstartedofferingadditional
courses in dentistry and pharmacy
and Orange has become an important
education centre and the health
industry has grown rapidly in the city.
Orange City Council has recently
completed a $19 million upgrade of
its airport. The city has also embarked
on an ambitious business technology
park project which is located in the
vicinity of the airport. A major selling
point of this project is the availability
of excellent air, road and rail linkages.
The park is located on a large area of
flat land which makes it an ideal site for
development.Council isinthefirstphase
of implementing a $20 million project
to provide enabling infrastructure.
While Council has taken a number of
new initiatives, it lays equal stress on
the maintenance of existing assets.
Chris Devitt speaks about this and
related aspects of the work which
is carried out, “We want to continue
providing additional services for the
city and its recreational facilities.
“At the same time we need to
recognise that we are quite an old
city in Australian terms. We ensure
that while we are focussing on the
new, we are also looking af ter the
existing assets, which again is a
key par t of our role – the renewal
of aging assets is a major issue
that we have to keep our focus on