Jobs in pipeline as plant restarts
PIPE maker Iplex is creating up to 50 jobs and reopening its polyethylene plant in Townsville after winning work to supply pipe for the Haughton water supply project.
Iplex Australia general manager Nicole Sumich said they were excited to be working with the Townsville City Council on the $ 215 million project and expanding its presence in the region.
“We are seeing lots of green shoots in this region,” Ms Sumich said.
“The decline in mining demand is why we shut the plant to start with ( but) we are seeing a resurgence of demand in that segment. We believe that will continue.”
Iplex was selected as preferred supplier earlier this week although the council said it was still finalising the contract and the price, which Mayor Jenny Hill said they were not at liberty to reveal.
Iplex will supply composite glass reinforced polyester pipe, manufactured by its partner RPC Pipe Systems at its Lonsdale plant in Adelaide, for the 36.5km Haughton pipeline.
RPC managing director Tony Caristo said GRP fittings for the project would be manufactured in Townsville by cutting the pipe into segments to make bends, T- joints and other segments.
He said 1000km of product had been produced and used in diameters of up to 3m in Australia since 1996.
A polyethylene plant at Bohle was mothballed just over two years ago and this is being restarted to supply polyethylene pipe of up to 1m diameter aimed at the mining and civil construction markets.
Ms Sumich said up to 20 people would be employed locally for management on the Haughton project and to manufacture the GRP fittings and up to a further 16 people would be employed in the polyethylene plant.
She said between 15 and 20 further indirect jobs would be created in the Haughton project and the polyethylene plant in tasks such as transport, logistics and supply.
Cr Hill said state funding had made the project possible, while council’s management of the contract had led to better outcomes for local industry than if the task had gone to a tier one construction firm.
Mundingburra MP Coralee O’Rourke said that it was a fantastic opportunity for the state to work with local government to deliver an important water security project for Townsville.
Further tenders for the Haughton project, expected to create up to 500 jobs, are to be released soon with the council committed to having it built by the end of next year.