Dubbo council seeking funding for Wiradjuri Tourism Centre after blowout

The Wiradjuri Tourism Centre, $5.9 foreshore events precinct and $5.2 Old Dubbo Gaol Heritage Plaza are all part of Dubbo Regional Council's Destination Dubbo campaign.

Council is $8.7 million short to fund all three projects due to increased construction costs and unexpected hurdles. But councillor Matt Wright says council is focused on getting the tourism centre completed.

If approved by the NSW government, council will move $4 million in funding yet to be spent on the projects to the events precinct and heritage plaza.

But it leaves the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre without a cent.

When first designed, the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre included an art gallery and museum space, yarning circles, dedicated cultural performance areas and educational facilities. There were also plans to include a cafe with Indigenous-inspired flavours.

To ensure the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre is still built, council is hoping to get funding through a different program. It will also entail a $2.2 million contribution from council, which will be resources via an internal loan.

If that fails, council will go back to the drawing board to consider alternative funding options for the centre.

Councillor Pam Wells said it was really important to get all three projects complete.

"[The Wiradjuri Tourism Centre] is going to bring so much cultural opportunity not just for Dubbo and the region but to all of NSW and the nation and for international visitors," she said.

"We know this community and the first nations people in clans and groups here and particularly the traditional owners have the opportunity to showcase some strong cultural practices... It's really important the Wiradjuri Tourism Centre gets up."

Councillor Matt Wright said council first applied for the grant to fund these projects back in 2018.

"It was announced on the 9th of October 2019. It's almost four years ago since that was announced and since then, I'm sure many people are aware, we've experienced a pandemic, we've experienced floods, storm emergencies... we've also since some significant cost increases in construction costs, delays on the heritage plaza due to uncovering those historical footings... It's been a number of things that have led to this and not necessarily the fact that council has sat on its hands and blew an $8 million hole in the budget," he said.

"I think the community needs to understand that and the community also needs to understand this group of councillors is pretty focused in making sure these projects proceed in some way, shape or form."

Council chief executive officer Murray Wood said Infrastructure NSW has called for no further delays on the Destination Dubbo projects.

He said any further delays "may put the entire funding deed at risk of forfeit".

"There still remains a risk that Infrastructure NSW will demand the funds back from the original funding deed as the original delivery date was April 2022," Mr Wood said.

"It is important council presents a clear path forward to Infrastructure NSW immediately to avoid the risk of defaulting on the original funding deed."

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