The Jenolan Caves Trust will receive an injection of almost $8 million for repair and restoration work at the iconic tourism precinct as part of a targeted flood recovery program, Member for Bathurst Paul Toole announced on Tuesday.
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The $7.9 million investment is recognition of the value the world heritage-listed site as for the region, and the state, and the funding is being provided due to the unique nature of requirements to repair flood damage to it.
The flood recovery funding is part of a $200 million package made of eight key sector programs, as well as another $200 million to support rebuilding damaged infrastructure to disaster-resilient standards.
"It is anticipated that over the next two years, remediation work will make the Jenolan Caves precinct safe and restore access for visitors," Mr Toole said.
"More than 70 [local government areas] were affected by storms and floods earlier this year, with 9,700 people seeking direct support and assistance from local Recovery Centres and more than 34,000 seeking advice and assistance from Service NSW's Disaster Customer Care Centre since March.
"The first two phases of recovery have already delivered significant funding supporting clean-up and providing dedicated grants for small businesses, primary producers and not- for-profits.
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"This new $400 million package of funds recognises the ongoing need to help industries bounce back, keep on staff, rebuild the infrastructure of our towns and safeguard the resilience of our local economies and people.
"The importance of this recovery package can't be underestimated."
The funding is some much-needed good news for the world-class tourism facility after more than 18 months of heavy knocks.
First the caves were shut due to bushfires in the area in late 2019 and then closed due to flood damage.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic which forced a closure for many months before the landslip in March closed a number of roads around the site for two months as crews worked around-the-clock on very difficult repairs.
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