Darwin ship lift stuck as land deal drags on

The Labor government has been sitting on a key piece of information which explains why work has not yet started on a crucial major project. Read what it is.

Land set-aside for the Northern Territory’s ship lift project is still under private ownership more than two years after negotiations for a land-swap commenced.

The NT government and landholder Paspaley have not yet signed-off on a final land deal that would allow work on the $515m ship lift to begin.

A titles office search identified three lots set aside for the project are still owned by Paspaley Pearls Properties Pty Ltd.

The search on Tuesday confirmed Section 5420, Section 6370 and Section 5163 within the Hundred of Bagot are still owned by Paspaley.

The NT government has declined to comment on land title arrangements surrounding the project as negotiations dragged on.

But on Monday, Chief Minister Eva Lawler conceded the NT government and Paspaley “have reached an agreement”, but no additional detail was provided.

Revelations at the failure to secure a land deal go some way towards explaining the long delays that have plagued the project.

Paspaley chief operating officer Sam Buchanan and executive director James Paspaley at the ship lift facility site at East Arm in 2017. Picture: Justin Kennedy

A Darwin ship lift was first flagged under the CLP government in 2015 and despite multiple announcements and timeline clarifications, work on the project is still to get under way.

The government has not explained why it has not finalised the purchase of the land and it is unclear whether it is embroiled in a stand-off with the pearling company.

Paspaley has been contacted for comment.

Revelations of the failure to secure title comes as the three companies that tendered to build the ship lift have again been asked to extend the validity period of the tenders for the third time.

Norwegian company Syncrolift, United States-based Pearlson Shiplift Corporation and Bardex Corporation have tendered for the $400m shiplift system, steel trestles and self-propelling modular transporter contracts.

Finalisation was expected on March 20, but has now been set back until April 19.

The NT News has been told construction partner Clough extended the steel tender date from last week to April 5, targeting delivery in October.

Queensland dredging specialist Halls have a dredger sitting idle in Darwin waiting for the project to commence despite Ms Lawler saying last year dredging work would begin in late September.

The government said the shiplift would be constructed on freehold titles, with lot numbers to be assigned with creation of the new lots.

The ship lift will be constructed on approximately 26.1ha.

In December, federal Solomon MP Luke Gosling warned the NT government it had two years to build the ship lift to meet timeframes set by the commonwealth’s Plan Galileo to grow and maintain Australia’s navy fleet.

If completed the ship lift will be capable of lifting vessels up to 5500 tonnes for servicing. It is being built with $215m from the NT government and a $300m loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.