Kempsey construction business owner Michael O’Donnell has been managing the clean-up and rebuild of the 145-year-old Telegraph Point Public School, which was destroyed in the March floods.
The school, along with six homes were wiped out when flood waters swept through the Telegraph Point village.
Mr O’Donnell’s business has managed long-term government maintenance contracts for schools, ambulance and fire stations, including during the bushfire recovery.
“We are a medium-sized, locally-based family company and we manage the work and sub-contract work to local businesses. A lot of them might be one or two person operations,” he said.
“When we engage local contractors, they buy building materials and supplies locally, in businesses employing other people, and there is a flow-on effect for the local economy.”
At Telegraph Point Public, Mr O’Donnell said the clean-up has transitioned to the rebuild phase, with eight new demountables raised to ensure the school can operate.
More than $300 million has so far been made available for the flood clean-up. This does not include repair or rebuild works and is not specific to government property.
Detailed assessments of damage across the state are still being completed and the government has been unable to give an estimate of the overall cost of flood damage.
Last month it was estimated road repair bills had already reached $80 million and were expected to soar into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
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