Rising sports stars and local clubs in Orange are set to benefit from first-rate regional sports infrastructure with preliminary work now under way on the new $25 million Orange Sports Precinct.
Upper House MP Sam Farraway joined Orange Mayor Councillor Reg Kidd today at the site alongside the Jack Brabham sporting fields as geotechnical engineers drilled test holes across the site to prepare for construction.
Mr Farraway said the government made the commitment to fund the $25 million project at the time of the last election.
"It was always going to happen," Mr Farraway said. "It was a question of when it was going to happen."
INVESTIGATION: As geo-technical drilling begins on the site of a new sporting precinct, the NSW Government re-commits to funding the $25 million project. Pictured (l. to r.) Orange cricketer Phoebe Litchfield, Orange Mayor Reg Kidd, Upper House MP Sam Farraway and Sport & Recreation Committee chair Cr Jason Hamling check out plans for the project.
Funding had been sourced, he said, as part of the government's plan to support projects which aid recovery from the economic impact of COVID pandemic. The government wanted to see "action on the ground very quickly", he said.
"This election commitment, delivered today, will drive business, tourism and dollars directly into the Central West."
As well as a new marquee field (a rectangular football field with a 1500 seat grandstand and seating mounds to sit 8,500 fans) the new sporting precinct will include cricket and multi purpose fields and an athletic field and track with covered seating.
Orange Mayor Reg Kidd said with funding confirmed Orange City Council will now push ahead with construction of the project.
"We have consulted widely on the project and heard community feedback, we know this sports precinct is going to be transformational for local residents," Cr Kidd said.
"Today's announcement is testament to what's possible when local and state government work together and I thank and commend the NSW Government for the funding to make this essential project for the people of Orange a reality."
Orange City Council's Sport & Recreation Committee chair Cr Jason Hamling said he was delighted that work could now go ahead full-steam on the new precinct.
"This new precinct is going to make Orange a regional centre for sport across Country NSW," Cr Jason Hamling said. "I'm confident it will out-shine the sporting venues in other nearby central west centres."
