That’s the imposing price-tag attached to the pathway forward for Townsville, with regional advocacy group Townsville Enterprise Limited keeping a close watch on every project and development to monitor how North Queensland is progressing on its way to the proverbial jackpot at the end of the rainbow.

It’s also around twice what the five main regional centres of the North Queensland region (Charters Towers, the Burdekin, Palm Island, Hinchinbrook and Townsville itself) contribute to the state’s economy every year, at last count.

That figure is growing, but to keep it growing and to keep the region thriving, TEL CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith says the region will need investment, projects to develop, housing and workers to make it all come together properly.

Renewable projects are top of the ticket in terms of investment, with mining right behind them.

“North Queensland has positioned itself globally as a strong player in mining and manufacturing and green energy production,” Ms Brumme-Smith said.

“Since the announcement of CopperString in March 2023, we have entered a historic upswing in our industry’s trajectory.

“There is a big focus on extracting, refining, and manufacturing commodities into high value-add products for world markets, it’s an incredibly exciting time.

“The largest portion of the investment will be seen in Renewables with 42 per cent, Mining and Manufacturing 39 per cent and Public Sector 12 per cent.

“More than 6,989 new ongoing jobs will be required to deliver on these 57 investment projects, and 16,304 construction jobs will be supported by these projects.”

Chief among the projects that are on North Queensland’s radar is CopperString - considered by many the tie that binds them all - a “generational” piece of infrastructure that Premier David Crisafulli has enshrined as the cornerstone piece of development that his government cannot fail to make happen.

It’s not only being touted as the end-all, be-all of power transmission, but a medicinal salve to soothe the pangs of a North West minerals sector that is bruised and reeling after Glencore announced its departure from Mount Isa and likely departure from Townsville.
“Let me make it very, very clear,” Premier Crisafulli said during a recent sit-down with the Townsville Bulletin.

“People in the city are going to see a generational commitment to CopperString, and we are going to deliver it.

“We’re going to deliver the first stage connecting to the NEM the way that it always should have been, and I hope that gives people in that corridor the hopes that we are serious about giving that backbone for it, and with that will come the opportunity for those renewable energy projects to be able to develop and get an ability to connect into the grid.

“Coupled with that, we’ve got to find a solution when it comes to Mount Isa, which is a city that’s on its knees, and Dale, as the minister, has done a lot of work in that space, and we have to keep trying to find a way to keep those dominoes standing up, because it’s an important city, but the economic ramifications all the way from the northwest through to the coast is huge, including for this city here.”

Despite its potential, CopperString has become a politically contested football in recent years, as ballooning costs and partisan interests pulled the project’s future out of boardrooms and into fiery debates in the halls of parliament.

Regardless, it’s still one of the key components of the north’s future, alongside

But for the north’s other highly touted projects, it’s tape across the start and finish lines - whether administrative and beauracratic red tape or ‘green tape’, those raised by environmental concerns and other impacted parties - that are gumming up the works.

Ms Brumme-Smith said the current time frame it can take to set up even some of the most standard and accepted projects, can be enormous due to the legislative hold-ups.

“Twelve out of the 57 projects are in active approvals processes with the State and Federal Governments,” Ms Brumme Smith said.

“We are often seeing a duplication of work for our proponents with the various levels of approval and we are advocating to streamline these, especially the environmental approvals among the State and the Commonwealth.

“It can take up to seven years to approve a wind farm and beyond 10 years for a new mine due to red tape.

“We need to be more competitive globally with our approval time frames on all levels of government - all approvals essentially ask for the same information so why can’t the assessment be done at the same time?”

“Further, we need to see 3,700 new residential homes or apartments and short stay accommodation delivered in the five years to accommodate our works.”

CopperString has met with its own difficulties in terms of land approvals and it, along with 13 other green-energy aligned projects, make up nearly half of the project pipeline’s total value at $17.6bn.

But despite the delays in making projects happen through the approvals stage, the majority of the 57-project pipeline are already approved, committed to, or underway, with 39 projects already on the way to being delivered.

This year’s Future Townsville series, in partnership with S.Kidman, Bravus, Port of Townsville, Aurizon, Queensland Resources Council and Sun Metals, will examine the once-in-a-generation opportunities for trade and investment in this city.