The federal government has announced it will inject $2.1 billion into the Roads to Recovery program to be handed out over the 2014-15 to 2018-19 period.

Hepburn Shire is set to receive $4.1 million, The City of Ballarat will receive more than $6.3 million, Golden Plains Shire Council will be given $5.7 million, and Moorabool Shire Council will get $5.2 million.

Hepburn Shire general manager infrastructure Bruce Lucas said the challenge facing remote shires was that it was increasingly difficult to raise revenue through rates, compared to larger cities including Ballarat. 

“There is a significant financial gap between what we are consuming each year and what we need to fix road infrastructure,” Mr Lucas said.

“Rates in the shire are more likely to be used on other areas before they are invested into roads which means we have a backlog of road infrastructure that needs to be tackled slowly over a period of many years.” 

Mr Lucas said the shire’s five-year capital works plan identified a number of roads “crying out for attention”,  including millions needed to repair Bald Hill Road in Creswick, McDonalds Road in Clunes and Vaughan Springs Road.

Hepburn Shire mayor Don Henderson said the funding wasn’t enough to improve roads in the region.

He said the poor state of some of the shire’s roads were the result of years of cost-shifting between all levels of government.

“We have a low rate-base, with not as many people as bigger shires, but the irony is we have the same amount of roads,” Cr Henderson said.