Gold Coast to copy Kuranda in new cable-car bid to hinterland

Gold Coast City Council will spend the next 12 weeks investigating a renewed push to get a cable car project airborne between Mudgeeraba and Springbrook as a major tourism initiative.

It is the latest example of a 20-year wish to build a Gold Coast equivalent to the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway between Smithfield and Kuranda, north of Cairns.

The popular Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.

Gold Coast council chief executive officer Dale Dickson is expected present a report to the council on the recommended way forward by April.

The broad suggestion is for an hour-long cable car journey up into the Gold Coast hinterland near Springbrook.

Previous concepts have had price tags of $100 million, however no plan has been chosen, no path has been selected and no budget is being considered.

The Gold Coast Destination Tourism Management Plan (2014-2020) identifies a wish for three “catalyst projects” after the 2018 Commonwealth Games held on the Gold Coast.

Springbrook has plenty of stunning lookouts for tourists.

It identifies a plan to “deliver transport options for connecting visitors to key events, attractions and precincts”.

One of these projects was a skyrail, or a skywalk, near Springbrook as a key tourism initiative.

The skyrail in far north Queensland runs through World Heritage-listed rainforest. It has attracted more than 10 million passengers since it began in 1995.

The project had innovative technology for the times and, according to experts, the rainforest in the soil near Kuranda grows quickly, covering construction scars within two years.

The source was unsure if rainforest would grow as quickly in the Gold Coast hinterland soils.

Acting Gold Coast mayor Donna Gates on Monday said environmental concerns and bushfire-prevention issues would be evaluated as part of the planning.

“Environmental concerns and the protection of amenity will be paramount,” she said.

“So that will be front and foremost in our considerations.”

The idea being investigated is for the council to buy the land for the footings, either from the state government or private owners, along the route.

“The CEO will prepare a report and bring it back to council by about March or April next year,” Cr Gates said.

“Until we see that report, it is a little subjective.”

Cr Gates said the starting point for the the council was acknowledgement the city needed new tourism infrastructure.

“I think there is a big push for improved facilities like glamping, for example, and Springbrook is a wonderful location so maybe this will form part of the report,” she said.

Cr Gates said the council had not decided if it would be involved in running any operation, whether it would be a co-operator under a public private partnership, or simply provide an opportunity for the private sector.

“There has been no commitment by the council as to the process we follow,” Cr Gates said.

In the past, several concepts have been raised at Willowvale, from Burleigh to Springbrook and to Purlingbrook Falls.

Cr Gates said each proposal over the years had its supporters and detractors.

“I think we have to put the city first and see what comes forward in the revised report in March,” she said.

Cr Gates said environmental concerns made the project difficult but not impossible.

“My personal view is that it is going to be difficult with the environmental constraints but we haven’t got the report yet so we would like to have a cable car in this city,” she said.

“It is the most beautiful city. We all know what it would be like travelling through the precinct that has been suggested, all of those waterways. It would be magic.”

Cr Gates said the footprint for the cable car pylons at the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway was small after environmental worries dogged the project in its early days.

“There hasn’t been destruction there through the undergrowth at all, so they got past it there, so maybe we can do the same,” she said.

The 2018 concept is not connected to the Gold Coast Skyride, put forward by Mermaid Beach MP Ray Stevens and a group of business partners.

That was rejected by the incoming Palaszczuk government in 2015.