Federal Government approves funding for $400m Darwin ship lift

DARWIN’S much-anticipated $400m ship lift is set to be approved for its long awaited funding, the NT News can reveal

An artist’s impression of the planned new shiplift at East Arm. Picture: Supplied

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DARWIN’s ship lift will get its long awaited funding approval this week.

The NT News understands the project has received a positive investment decision from the board of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and will get final sign off by Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan imminently.

Mr Canavan is scheduled to be in Darwin next week where it is expected he will announce the $300 million loan.

In town last month to give the final sign-off to a $150 million concessional loan for an expansion of NT Airports, Mr Canavan said he was keen to have the ship lift deal squared away by Christmas.

The NT News understands the Territory was unsatisfied by the initial terms offered by the NAIF but an agreement has now been reached giving the Territory a much lower interest rate.

Securing funding for the ship lift has been a hard slog for the broke Territory Government. When it was initially mooted by the previous CLP government, then-chief minister Adam Giles announced $100 million would be set aside from the lease of the Darwin Port to pay for its construction.

But the real cost will be much higher.

The $100 million figure had “no valuation basis”, according to a report by Auditor-General Julie Crisp.

Ms Crisp wrote the decision to offer up to $100 million “was premised upon the availability of funds rather than the cost of the project”.

The ship lift will be one of the $5 billion NAIF’s biggest investments to date.

Its largest was a loan of up to $610 million to the Kidston hydro energy storage project near Townsville.

Construction on the ship lift is anticipated to take two years.

According to the Territory Government, it will support 400 ongoing jobs and bring $260 million into the economy each year.

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Pearling outfit the Paspaley Group’s marine services arm will operate the facility which is expected to service defence and commercial clients.

The independent Utilities Commission will oversee pricing and access.

It’s hoped the ship lift will be complete by 2022, in time for the decommissioning of Coonawarra Naval Base

The NT News contacted Mr Canavan and Chief Minister Michael Gunner for comment.