Furniture, water tanks and more are being gifted to the Parkes community as Inland Rail teams prepare to move on.
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Sections of construction on the Parkes to Narromine leg of the Inland Rail are wrapping up.
As Fulton Hogan and BMD Constructions staff prepare to leave Parkes, the furniture that was purchased last year to furnish their homes here will be donated to Can Assist.
"We have started to demobilise our work sites, as construction gets closer to ending," Fulton Hogan and BMD Constructions (INLink Joint Venture) Project Director Gerard O'Connor said.
"Our staff are commencing to leave the project and Parkes, and they leave behind all their household furniture that was bought new over the last year."
It amounts to 12 households' worth of furniture.
"During construction we also utilised multiple 25,000 litre water tanks across the 103 kilometre site," Mr O'Connor said.
"Rather than selling them, we wanted to show appreciation to the local community who were and continue to be very understanding during the works, by donating them to impacted residents and the local councils."
Rather than selling them, we wanted to show appreciation to the local community.
- Gerard O'Connor
Altogether 20 water tanks have been donated, including two on their way to Narromine shire and four to Parkes Shire Council.
Two of the donated water tanks have been delivered to council's Works Depot in Parkes, and the other two at the new depot in Peak Hill.
Parkes Shire Mayor, Cr Ken Keith thanked Fulton Hogan and BMD Constructions for their generous donations.
"Throughout the construction phase, the INLink Joint Venture has created meaningful opportunities that will deliver lasting benefits for our community - through employment, industry participation, accommodation, community engagement and wellbeing, as well as some of these smaller legacy projects," Cr Keith said.
"The new water storage tanks will be installed at the Parkes and Peak Hill depots.
"The water will be carted to support remote construction projects not accessible to local water supplies."
Mr O'Connor added that he'd like to thank the Australian Government, through the Australian Rail Track Corporation, for giving them the opportunity to work on the iconic project.
Eventually, the Inland Rail will see 1700 kilometre of rail line between Melbourne and Brisbane, reducing rail freight transit between the cities to less than 24 hours.
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