Irrigation works in the pipeline

Tim Pallas announces the completion of stage 1 of the Werribee Irrigation District Modernisation Project and the launch of state 2, as he and Joanne Ryan call on the Federal Government to fund the remaining third of the five-stage project. Photo: supplied

Works on stage two of the Werribee Irrigation District upgrade are set to begin next month.

Up to 12 kilometres of ageing channel systems will be replaced with pipeline as part of the project.

Werribee MP Tim Pallas last week announced the completion of stage one, during which pipes were laid from the Princes Freeway to Aviation Road.

Mr Pallas said stage two works – which will start from near Aviation Road and continue along part of Diggers Road and O’Connors Road – would be finished by September this year.

The state government and Southern Rural Water’s Werribee customers have supplied funding of $21 million for the first three stages of the works, which are due for completion by the end of 2019.

The overall cost of the project’s five stages, to lay 40 kilometres of pipeline, has been estimated at $31.3 million.

Both the state government and Southern Rural Water have called on the federal government to provide the remaining funds needed to complete the project, through its National Water Infrastructure Development Fund.