The NSW government has continued to dribble money into the Myuna Bay sport and recreation camp replacement at Morisset while pushing the estimated completion date back to 2029.
This week's state budget again allocated $32 million towards building new $40 million sport and recreation facilities on land at Morisset Hospital, the same amount set aside in the 2023-24 budget.
It assigns the project $2.318 million in 2024-25.
Last year's budget papers forecast the project would be finished by 2028.
That budget allocated $1.54 million to the project in 2023-24, on top of $271,000 already spent.
But this year's budget documents show only $810,000 has been spent on planning for the new centre.
The former Coalition government closed the former Myuna Bay camp suddenly in 2019 over fears the nearby Eraring Power Station ash dam could collapse in an earthquake.
The government chose the Morisset Hospital site in 2022 to replace the Myuna Bay centre and "support the increasing demand for sporting facilities in the Morisset area".
The NSW Office of Sport website says the government is "developing a vision for the project" and determining what sport and recreation activities will be included.
It says the new centre will be "accessible to all the community".
Lake Macquarie mayor Kay Fraser said in December that she had been told that, unlike the Myuna camp, the new centre at Morisset would not include overnight accommodation.
Mandalong Road
Another key project in Morisset, the long-awaited upgrade of Mandalong Road, is also stuck in the budget slow lane.
The government allocated $58.8 million to the project in state and federal money last year but spent only half the $5 million budgeted for 2023-24.
The one-kilometre road duplication will receive only another $1.8 million in the coming financial year.
The state and federal governments announced joint funding of $76 million for the project during the 2022 federal election campaign.
This year's budget does not include estimated start or finish dates for the work.
The Newcastle Herald and Lake Macquarie City Council have tried unsuccessfully to uncover details of a secret agreement between Eraring owner Origin Energy and the Office of Sport after the Myuna Bay centre closed.
The Office of Sport has refused to disclose the agreement, claiming it would "place Origin Energy at a substantial commercial disadvantage".
Cr Fraser said in April that the secrecy left the community to wonder if the centre had been closed for a reason other than what had been stated publicly.
"There's something in that deed that we're not aware of, and they're hell bent on not giving us information or the community," she said at the time.
The Office of Sport's 2021-22 financial statement shows it received "other revenue" of $48.1 million "mainly due to a one-off payment received in relation to the closure of Myuna Bay Sport and Recreation Centre and development of a new centre at Lake Macquarie".
The Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel approved the Myuna Bay centre's demolition last year.
