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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