THE PROPONENTS of the Bowen Pipeline Project have welcomed a new State Government and hope this will mean the progression of the pipeline.
The project would create a reliable water supply from the Burdekin River to Bowen.
It would also create 1,200 full-time jobs and generate $300 million a year in economic gain, according to the proponents.
In a statement, the Bowen Pipeline Company said:
“We are pleased to see Dale Last MP re-elected, particularly given his strong support for our community led project.
“All we need is a letter from the incoming Planning Minister with a single sentence permitting us to lodge our Ministerial application.
“We have been held up 15 months by the outgoing government and delays are no longer acceptable, as this impacts gravely on our construction start date and the start of employment for 200 people in the local communities.
“If we were to obtain the letter we seek from the incoming Government, in November, we could have our State approvals by June and be turning soil in late 2025/early 2026 and be operational by 2028.
“We have secured the entire 182 kilometres of trunk and branch lines, with the exception of 40 metres under an open channel (Lower Burdekin Water easement).
“All the private land has been secured and we have support from both the Whitsunday Regional Council and Burdekin Shire Council to use their road reserves.
“We have also secured the land for all five pump stations plus the laydown areas.
“We are now in discussions for an in principal agreement with Lower Burdekin Water for this final tiny piece of the pipeline alignment.
“For completeness, we would like to have this closed out, so nothing prevents us lodging the Ministerial application.
“It was interesting to see the cane growers February 2024 submission to the QCA looking to hand back up to some 150,000 ML of water to Sunwater, the water allocated for wetting the open channels.
“Add this to the available water allocations in the BFD and we have some 350 billion litres of water, and BPC only needs a fraction of that.
“When the dam wall is raised, the total available water could reach 500 billion litres, that’s half a trillion litres.”
In summary, the project would:
- Create 200 jobs during construction and 1,200 when operational, generating economic gain of $300 million every year. Townsville (as North Queensland’s major industrial and commercial hub, port and international airfreight), as well as the Burdekin and Whitsunday Shires will be the beneficiaries)
- Secured the entire 182 kilometres of trunk and branch lines, except 40 metres under an open channel (Lower Burdekin Water easement). All the private land has been secured and we have support from both the Whitsunday Regional Council and Burdekin Shire Council to use their road reserves. We have also secured the land for all five pump stations plus the laydown areas
- We have secured signed agreements with both the Indigenous groups for Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Land Use – the Juru have project equity, the 1st in Australia for a large-scale water infrastructure project
- We do not anticipate requiring State Grant funding for construction and are not asking the State to commit to any funding. We will however apply for the usual Commonwealth NWGA grant funding for construction. Without that, the water is not affordable for water users
- It is backed by a national and international funds manager that operates four water projects in southern Australia, and has major investments in Brisbane Airport and Adelaide Airport
- We have lodged a Commonwealth Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC) application, waiting on the MID application to start the process
- We will use world leading Australian HDPE pipe manufacturing technology to save over five million kilometres in B double truck movements and reduce the number of pipe welds by 90 per cent.
