The Baird government directed 90 per cent of its priority infrastructure fund to urban projects last year, despite promising at least 30 per cent would go to rural and regional areas.
The $12.9 billion Restart NSW Fund was set up in 2011 to pay for major projects including public transport and roads, local infrastructure in regional areas affected by mining, hospitals and government workplaces.
A target of 30 per cent was set for proceeds to be directed to rural and regional areas.
But Auditor-General Margaret Crawford reported in the 2016 Report on State Finances that just 10 per cent of the funds spent in 2015-2016 were directed to the bush.
National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simpson said there needed to be more transparency around the funding of regional infrastructure, which had been starved of cash since the local road network was transferred from the states to councils.
"Across the state and across Australia the backlog of infrastructure spending in the bush is in the millions if not billions," Ms Simpson said.
"Rural communities have roads they can't drive on, they have railways that aren't functional.
"Rural communities have enormous potential but at the moment the population is moving to the cities and all the government seems to be interested in is trying to build up the metropolitan infrastructure. Now that's important but we also think there's a lot of potential in the regions that we can build on."
NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said infrastructure projects were complex and in any given year they were at different stages of planning and building, which meant a yearly snapshot did not reflect what was happening over time.
"The NSW government is continuing to support our regions by investing massive amounts into infrastructure and services," Ms Berejiklian said.
"The government is absolutely committed to allocating 30 per cent of total Restart NSW investments to regional areas.
"As of the 2016-17 budget, the government has budgeted approximately 33 per cent to regional NSW projects. And this does not include the government's $20 billion Rebuilding NSW plan which commits $6 billion to infrastructure projects located in regional areas."
NSW Farmers Association policy director Jaimie Lovell said more infrastructure funding was needed for the government to meet its own target of 30 per cent growth in the value of primary industry by 2020.
"The Treasurer has said that she expects to exceed the projected $21 billion sale price for the poles and wires," Ms Lovell said.
"We are calling for 30 per cent of any additional gains – those funds should be spent on transport infrastructure in rural areas to cut the transport costs of getting agricultural commodities to market."
The Restart NSW Fund is flushed with proceeds from the sale and lease of state assets.
The Auditor-General reported that in 2015-16, $1.1 billion was spent on stage projects and $117.7 million on local government and community projects.
The largest payments were for rebuilding NSW projects ($717 million) and Northern Beaches Hospital roads ($108 million).
