Rookwood Weir reaches one million hours milestone with project to benefit Central Queensland agriculture

Construction of the $367M Rookwood Weir project in Central Queensland has hit a major milestone as workers make the most of the clear conditions before forecast rain arrives. See the aerial footage of the project here.

One of Central Queensland’s biggest infrastructure projects has reached a major milestone, hitting one million hours of work towards its completion.

The Rookwood Weir project has reached its workforce peak, with more than 300 employees working on the infrastructure.

Included in the more than 300 person workforce are 16 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander positions and 25 apprentices and trainees.

Of the jobs for the project, 160 went to people from Central Queensland with more than 170 other positions filled by people from all around the state.

Water Minister Glenn Butcher, Rockhampton MP Barry O'Rourke and SunWater CEO Glenn Stockton tour the Rookwood Weir site as work on the weir reached one million hours.

Touted as one of the biggest water infrastructure projects in Australia, and the largest weir to be built in the state since WWII, the $367.2 million project is on track to be completed about this time next year.

Water Minister Glenn Butcher, Rockhampton MP Barry O’Rourke and SunWater CEO Glenn Stockton toured the construction site on Wednesday.

Mr Stockton said building in an actively flowing river system presented its challenges, with three “inundation events” already since construction began.

He said with more rain forecast over the next few months, the team was making the most of the fine conditions to get through as much work as possible.

“The team has really stepped up and I’m really proud of the way they’ve addressed those challenges,” he said.

More than 300 people are working on the Rookwood Weir project with a majority of the workers from CQ.

“The project team has taken into account the weather conditions and the forecasts...the focus now is on using the weather opportunity we have, that window of dry weather, to maximise productivity.

“What we’ve been focused on is placing concrete at night and preparing during the day, introducing additional shifts and manpower, so we can place concrete as quickly as we can, but always focused on that safety aspect.”

Rockhampton MP Barry O’Rourke said the 76,000ML weir would future proof Rockhampton and Central Queensland and help the region’s agriculture industry thrive.

“We’ve already seen large plantations of macadamias going in and there’s talk of another big feedlot as well,” he said.

Employees are making the most of the clear conditions to ramp up work on the weir before forecast rain make it to the site.

“This is great for local jobs and for us into the future, it’s really about future proofing Rockhampton and industries.”

Water Minister Glenn Butcher said when the weir was complete there would be an additional 300 jobs in the region’s agriculture industry.

“It (the weir) is now coming out of the ground,” he said.

“We have always said this is a project of significance for the Central Queensland people.

“We know there has already been a large interest in the water allocations out of this dam, so this will give opportunities for agriculture in this region, the benefits of this will be seen for many, many years to come.”