A collaborative initiative driven by government and industry in Queensland’s far north will report its initial port, road and rail findings to invite investment
By Anna Game-Lopata | February 9, 2012
A collaborative initiative driven by government and private industry in Queensland’s far north is about to report on its initial port, road
and rail findings to invite investment.
A year in the making, the
50-year Freight Infrastructure Plan Interim Report for the state’s North West Minerals Province will be launched for stakeholder feedback February 27 in Townsville.
Driven by the demand of private industry and supported by local, state and federal bodies, including an initial contribution of $60,000 from the Queensland government, it is the first such endeavour by any region in Australia.
A major piece of research, the 50-Year Plan combines the hard facts of existing supply chain bottlenecks and challenges with demand projections for the future, to connect one of the world’s richest sources of mineral wealth to the global market.
The plan presents a commodity forecast model, accurate freight estimates and an infrastructure assessment plan for the corridor from the North West Minerals Province to the Port of Townsville, a total land area of 271,732 square kilometres.
It is the brainchild of the Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone (MITEZ), an economic developoment body spanning seven local government areas from Mount Isa to Cloncurry, McKinlay and Townsville.
The data was collated by a MITEZ-appointed collaboration of organisations, the Northern and North West Queensland Supply Chain Working Group (NNWQ).
NNWQ Chair Tracey Lines says the working group, comprising representatives from Infrastructure Australia, Queensland Treasury, the Port of Townsville and resources companies Xstrata and BHP Billiton among others, put aside political and commercial vested interests to undertake the research as a regional response to Infrastructure Australia’s Land Freight Strategy, released last February 2011.
“The Interim 50 Year Infrastructure Plan isn’t about us asking for government handouts,” Lines says.
“It’s about presenting credible commercial investment case studies to attract public, private and foreign investment to our region.
The Plan, which Lines says will be revised each year, will highlight the MITEZ region as a source of attractive, viable investment opportunity on the global stage.
“We hope the plan will bring the MITEZ region to global prominence as a freight infrastructure investment destination and provide visibility to individual producers in the region,”
she says.
“We also hope it will be the catalyst to rectify under-investment and capacity constraints within the region’s productive supply chains.”
“This initiative will change the way we look at investment in the region,” she says.
While the 50 Year Plan initially focuses on ports,
road
and rail, later projects will incorporate water and telecommunications infrastructure for the region.