Edward River Council has confirmed it has taken on the project management role after the initial tender for the project resulted in no applications.
As project manager, council will now look to engage contractors to deliver the upgrades as planned.
An initial $450,000 has been allocated to upgrades at the sheep yards, sourced from council’s allocation in the late 2022 round of the Commonwealth Locals Roads and Community Infrastructure Fund.
A strategic plan for the facility released the previous year indicates an investment of up to $1.5 million would be required, in stages, to bring the facility up to modern standards.
The same 2021 reports suggested closing the cattle sale section of the saleyards, although due to community uproar this part of the plan has been shelved for review.
Cattle sales have not been held at Deniliquin since before the report’s release, because the yards have been allowed to fall into such a level of disrepair.
Council CEO Phil Stone said the funding available to council so far would allow for stage one of the sheep yards upgrades to be delivered.
Stage one concentrates on repairing or replacing loading ramps, improving drainage, replacement of concrete floors and providing lights for “low light conditions”.
“Council is committed to delivering the overall works for stage one,” he said.
“Council is investigating other funding sources to continue with further stages of the project.
“It is not unusual for council not to receive any tender submissions, or to not accept any tender submissions should they receive some.
“It can be part of tendering that there is little interest in the scope of works that has been detailed in the documentation.
“Interest in any tender is driven by the market and the contractors’ availability, capacity and resourcing.
“Council is reviewing the scoping (of the project) and taking on the project management role so that the intended work can still be delivered.
“A new tender for the sheep yards will be advertised, and works will commence once contractors are engaged.”
The Deniliquin Saleyards Strategic Plan released in 2021 estimated basic maintenance at the cattle yards to bring it up to standard would require an investment of between $500,000 and $1 million.
A full scale upgrade of the cattle complex was costed at between $1.5 million and $2 million, on top of a proposed investment of between $750,000 and $1.5 million for the sheep yards.
Assisting council as it moves toward starting the refurbishment will be new saleyards manager Greg ‘Lumpy’ White.
Mr White replaces Scanclear as saleyards manager/operator, with his contract coming into effect last week.
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