Funding for region pothole repair to be included in NSW budget.

The funding will come from the Regional Emergency Road Repair Fund, which will be funded in the upcoming NSW budget.

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The money will be distributed to the 95 regional councils based on the total kilometres of regional and local roads they are responsible for managing.

"This funding commitment will ensure the roads used by regional communities daily are efficient, safe, and reliable so people can travel around town, go to work, education and healthcare, visit their family and friends, and keep our supply chains moving," regional transport and roads minister Jenny Aitchison said.

In the Shoalhaven alone, the cost of repairing roads damaged by successive East Coast Low events in 2022 is estimated to be $80 million. This includes damage from 98 landslips, 13 sinkholes and 2600 damage sites throughout the Shoalhaven.

The program will provide funding for heavy road patching, reshaping and smoothing unsealed roads, carrying out work to improve drainage from the road surface, rehabilitating sections of road and resurfacing work.

In November 2022, regional councils including Kiama and Shellharbour received $92,048.53 and $161,741.68 respectively from the former NSW government's Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair program. Wollongong was also excluded from this program.

At the time, Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said while the council did get some funding, it was "dodgy" that the municipality was sometimes regional and sometimes metropolitan.

"It's the old case of when it's convenient we are not regional and when it's convenient we are," he said.

Across the state, the NRMA estimated that the backlog for councils prior to the heavy rains would cost $1.9 billion to clear.

Planning funding for Nowra

The NSW government will also create a $334 million Regional Roads Fund for new roads and roundabouts, replace or repair bridges and address black spots in rural and regional areas.

The government has identified work on the East Nowra sub arterial road as one of the projects to be funded by the new fund.

During the election campaign, the Minns government pledged $12 million to planning and early works for the project.

The works will include planning and commencing early work on the road, which will link East Nowra and the Nowra CBD.

Shoalhaven council estimates the total cost of the project would be $100m including direct construction and associated works.

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