Push for progress on water pipeline

APPLICATIONS for a 100km pipeline running from the Burdekin River at Home Hill to Bowen could be lodged by the end of the year, according to the project director.

Set to be built onsite and within a time frame of less than two years, the $150m pipeline is pitched to provide low-flow water to the Bowen area and create 3000 permanent jobs.

Bowen Pipeline Company director Sean Brown said the project was moving forward and agreements in principle were already being sought.

“We’re hoping to have some exciting news down the track,” Mr Brown said.

“We’ll have significant cost savings because it will be constructed onsite.”

Mr Brown said the company was looking forward to the relaxation of Queensland’s border closure as it was in discussions with a Sydneybased company about constructing the pipeline.

He said he hoped to lodge applications with state and federal governments by the end of this year.

The pipeline is proposed to run underground along the state-owned and councilmanaged Bruce Highway corridor, but plans would see the pipeline divert from the highway in Home Hill and travel underground along Fifth and Sixth avenues.

Burdekin MP Dale Last has called for project hurdles to be cleared.

“This is a project that has been talked about for years now,” Mr Last said.

“It’s time to actually make it happen, and if that means the State Government needs to step in, then an LNP government will do just that.

“Both the producers who are calling for the water and the people of Home Hill deserve action and our community deserves the jobs.

“Home Hill is a key part of developing that land and of growing the industries, so I would hope we would see jobs during the construction of the pipeline and jobs created from the expansion of primary production.

“All the critical infrastructure in terms of roads, rail and power already exist, so it is simply a matter of running the pipeline and letting the opportunities flow.”