Inertia puts $ 300m rail project in limbo
THE State Government has been accused of stalling a $ 300 million rail project that could create hundreds of jobs and improve the economy and amenity of Townsville.
Former Herbert MP Ewen Jones made the attack as Townsville’s most senior Labor State Government MP, Coralee O’Rourke, said she did not know when a business case on the project would be delivered or what it was expected to say.
Mr Jones, who is keen to recontest Herbert for the LNP, said the rail project was critical to improving the Mount Isa rail line and could be built by local businesses. But he said the Labor Government did not want to “party up” with its half share of the funding.
“The Labor State Government has never treated North Queensland fairly,” he said.
The Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor has been an infrastructure priority of the Queensland Government for more than 10 years and 18 months ago gained a federal Coalition commitment for $ 150 million in funding.
The state has been studying a business case ever since.
That study was meant to be completed in 2017 but Ms O’Rourke said the Government was yet to receive the document from its infrastructure planning body Building Queensland.
“I’m not sure what Building Queensland is doing. It’s up to them how long it takes to do the business case,” Ms O’Rourke said. “The advice I’ve been given is that we haven’t received it from them.”
Ms O’Rourke said the business case would be considered by Cabinet and stressed the importance of striking the best possible deal for taxpayers.
Port of Townsville acting CEO Claudia Brumme- Smith said TEARC was a vital project for the port, the city and the development of the North West Minerals Province.
“The Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor is the key enabler for expanding transport capacity in Northern Australia and the critical first step for the upgrade of the Mount Isa rail line and future growth of the Port of Townsville,” she said.
“Numerous studies and reports undertaken by various independent consultancies over the past decade have shown that the rail access to the Port of Townsville is the largest bottleneck for the efficiency of the Mount Isa rail line.”
Ms Brumme- Smith said the existing rail corridor supported annual regional mineral production worth more than $ 4 billion, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties to the state.
She said TEARC would provide improved supply chain efficiencies for port customers as well as social and operational benefits to Townsville and the broader region.
Social benefits included enabling rail traffic to be diverted around residential areas and several major level crossings, improving property values, road safety and amenity, allowing for upgraded road capacity and creating several hundred construction jobs.
The project involves an 8km section of line from Cluden, running alongside the Port Access Rd across Ross River into the port.
Ms Brumme- Smith expected the business case would be released in the first quarter of this year.