THE BOWEN Pipeline Company has confirmed that it is on target to receive approval for its water project from the State Government by September this year.
The Bowen Pipeline Project is a 182km underground water pipeline starting 16km upstream from Home Hill (at the Burdekin River) and moving south to Bowen.
The project will allow for the creation of a reliable, secure water supply to the Bowen and Gumlu area, which produces 1/5th of Australia’s vegetables and is the country’s largest winter vegetable growing area.
Currently, the area grows more than 250 million kilograms of fruit and vegetables, each year, with a gate value of more than $650 million.
“We continue to move forward with our project approvals,” Project Director Sean Brown said.
“The public advertising for our Ministerial Infrastructure Designation (MID) application commenced on April 4, 2025.
“We are on target for the State approval, in September 2025, with Commonwealth approval shortly after that.”
The MID Application Lodgement was made with the Department on December 18, 2024, and the application was confirmed by the Department on March 14, 2025.
The Minister then proceeded to undertake notification of development with relevant stakeholders and request state agency comments.
The Bowen Pipeline Project has 40 grower and industry investors who have, to date, invested about $2.5 million.
The project has also received a Commonwealth Grant for $5 million for engineering and design.
Most investors are growers, business owners and individual residents in the Bowen and Burdekin Regions, and project equity holders include the Juru People, who together with the Bindal People, form a cornerstone of the project.
Mr Brown said the project was on track to achieve the timeline of soil turning by Quarter Four this year.
“We look forward to continuing to work with the Queensland Government and Sunwater to progress our approvals process and we hope to be able to finalise our approvals by Quarter Three 2025 and then progress to local council permitting,” Mr Brown said.
“We are well positioned to achieve our timeline of soil turning by Quarter Four 2025.”
Mr Brown thanked the ‘broad range’ of supporters and stakeholders for their ongoing patience and faith in the project.
“Like us, our supporters want to see North Queensland develop as a commercial and industrial hub and our project will deliver significant economic benefits during construction and operation,” he said.
“The project will create yearly economic gain of $300 million for North Queensland, 200 jobs during construction and 1,200 when operational.”
