Billion-dollar Pregno industrial development cancelled in Edmonton
A billion-dollar plan to carve out a huge industrial precinct on the city’s south has been abandoned after developers were effectively superseded by government intervention.
Cairns
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A BILLION-DOLLAR plan to carve out a huge industrial precinct on the city’s south has been abandoned, after developers were effectively superseded by government intervention.
The Edmonton Business and Industry Park was to be Queensland’s biggest greenfield development outside the southeast – 212ha of cane farming land transformed into the economic engine room of a growing city.
Then the state government became a competitor.
The 2017 election announcement of a 1159ha Cairns South State Development Area mere kilometres away at Wrights Creek, drove a nail into the project’s coffin.
It has taken until now for the funeral to be called.
Pregno Family Investments has cancelled all seven of its hard-fought development approvals.
It cited the passage of time, new regulations, market conditions and “the declaration of the Cairns South State Development Area” as the markers of its downfall.
“(The) landowner will be seeking to pursue development on the site under fresh development approvals, to be sought in response to market demand and/or as further technical work by the project team is undertaken,” council documents state.
With such a vast, government-backed operation so close by, it is unlikely the Pregno development’s next iteration will be so ambitious – at least in the industrial realm.
The project had been earmarked for a 20-year rollout after approvals were granted in 2013 following a four-year Planning and Environment Court battle against Cairns Regional Council.
The plan included a medical services precinct with 250-bed hospital, bulky goods precinct for “big box” retailers, a 75-lot industry precinct and business and technology parks.
There was a homemaker centre, a tavern, car dealerships, two sporting fields, 45ha of recreational and open space, a boardwalk along Blackfellow Creek, picnic and barbecue areas and shared paths.
It was expected to create 4000 jobs with local contractors favoured during the tendering process.
The state development area remains a more vague prospect, although precincts have been marked out for distinct industrial uses.
They include land designated for intermodal transport, rail dependent industry, high and medium-impact industry, operations supporting the Mulgrave Mill and the broader sugar industry, and transport and support services related to sugar processing and cane transportation.
Other precincts include infrastructure corridors for water, wastewater, electricity, transport and telecommunications, separate rural uses, environmental management and the continued operation of the Meringa Sugar Experiment Station, operated by Sugar Research Australia.
At the time of the state development area’s announcement, the Queensland Government argued 87 per cent of the Pregno project would only be suitable for low-impact industry – an assertion which was contested.
There had been suggestions both projects could go ahead, but it was a dubious proposition and the truth has now been revealed.
Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt believed there was room for both to flourish.
“I certainly believe (the Pregno development) has a place,” he said.
“Whether that’s in the form they have been working on for several years or it evolves into something new, clearly more development to support the growth of the southern corridor is absolutely needed.
“And it is going to play a big part in that.”
Pregno director Alan Savina has been asked for comment.
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Originally published as Billion-dollar Pregno industrial development cancelled in Edmonton
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