BENDIGO'S Prince of Wales Showgrounds will undergo upgrades after its committee received more than $600,000 in state government funding.
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The $680,000 will be used to drive improvements across the site to help provide the showgrounds with ongoing financial sustainability and to attract more visitors to the site and region for major events.
Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards and Bendigo East MP Jacinta Allan announced the funding on Tuesday.
Ms Edwards said the showgrounds were a highly valued community asset that provided significant social, community and economic benefits.
"The Bendigo showgrounds is one of our iconic facilities in Bendigo, because it is so central and well-known for the many events it holds across the year," she said.
"Of course last year they [the committee] couldn't hold any because of COVID so it's really important that we ensure they can upgrade their facilities to encourage more visitation, in particular for the Bendigo market.
"We have a special facility here and we want to make sure that it is upgraded to a level where we can see more people coming to Bendigo, more people visiting the events held here, and more people coming to the beautiful market and stimulating the economy."
The money is part of the state government's regional infrastructure fund - stimulus round.
"This fund is about ensuring our local facilities are able to accommodate future growth and visitation and more events," Ms Edwards said.
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A recent master plan of the showgrounds site identified a number of opportunities and considerations to the existing infrastructure, deliverable through a number of the stages.
One of the stages includes food and market precedent upgrades, which aim to deliver infrastructure, visual and usability improvements.
The regional infrastructure fund is part of the state government's $156 million regional jobs and infrastructure fund, which helps businesses create more jobs in regional Victoria. The second round of the 2020-21 program is due to open for applications from June 16.
Ms Edwards said information and guidelines for the fund could be found here.
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