Work on a government development that would support firefighting operations in Tallangatta has barely started, despite plans to have it already finished.
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The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning office and depot project was announced 17 months ago.
It's understood construction was planned to start in April last year and be finished by last month.
But the site, located on the Murray Valley Highway, only a few hundreds from a bushfire staging ground, remains a largely vacant construction site.
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There is a small excavator, precast concrete and piping on the site and there appears to have been minimal groundwork undertaken.
The facility would be used as an incident control centre for major incidents, such as the fires burning in the Upper Murray.
Dozens of emergency staff have been operating from older buildings on Towong Street during the fires, which have burnt 170,000 hectares of land in the Corryong region.
The bushfires are expected to burn for months.
The new site would have 15 forest firefighters and 15 other staff.
It's understood the delays are having an impact on contractors and that the setbacks have been costly.
The two hectare site had an estimated construction cost of $10.3 million, with space for 72 car parks.
Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes announced the plans in August 2018, with councillor approval given last February.
