Forestry road materials and machinery hire
Funding for road materials rose from £479,000 to £525,000, while machinery-hire provision fell from £361,000 to £310,000 because greater use of departmental equipment was expected. The Minister said the 1979 roads programme could be revised upward if circumstances warranted; remaining questions were deferred.
asked the Minister for Fisheries and Forestry if he will give details of the cutbacks regarding: (a) the provision of sand, gravel and other materials and (b) the hire of excavation and other machinery, for 1979.
Comment on this
The provision for the purchase of sand, gravel and other materials for roads was increased from £479,000 in the Estimate for Forestry in 1978 to £525,000 in 1979.
The provision for machine hire for roads was reduced from £361,000 to £310,000 on the basis of expected greater use of the Department's own machine fleet.
Because of economies on other parts of the subhead it was possible in 1978 to utilise some of the savings to extend the original roads programme. Some upward revision of the roads programme for 1979 will be considered if circumstances warrant it.
