Northern Territory logistics hubs given national priority status
The NT Minerals Council has welcomed the investment as helping to address the Territory’s ‘infrastructure gap’. Read how much the federal government is chipping in.
Business
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Regional logistics hubs planned for construction in the Northern Territory have been added to the country’s national infrastructure priority list.
The federal government has committed $440m of equity towards construction of the hubs and the project has been given stage one business case status.
The hubs will be centred around Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek, with up to a dozen additional sidings along the railway line.
The hubs are designed to maximise the benefits of a number of projects anticipated to begin in coming years including agriculture, gas, minerals, rare earths and solar.
The NT government is forecasting investment of $38bn and up to 6000 construction jobs as projects develop over coming years.
Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler said much of the benefit would be in remote parts of the Territory.
She said the infrastructure would increase supply chain capacity across the Territory, benefit communities and increase employment in remote areas.
“Projects like the Northern Territory regional logistics hubs greatly support our ambitious target of a $40bn economy by 2030,” Ms Lawler said.
“By improving rail efficiency and intermodal capacity along the north-south corridor we will support rail volumes and remove investment barriers for development of proposed mining, agriculture and energy projects across the Territory.
“Having projects accepted onto the Australian national infrastructure priority list is great news for the Northern Territory, I will continue to work with the federal government and Infrastructure Australia to ensure the best outcomes are achieved.”
The investment has been welcomed by the NT’s mining sector, which the government wants to develop to grow the Territory’s own-source revenue options.
NT Minerals Council executive director Cathryn Tilmouth said the investment would help reduce infrastructure shortages.
“The mining industry welcomes investment in addressing the infrastructure gap we have in the Territory,” she said.
“To attract future mining business operations, the Territory needs to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to de-risk opportunities, ensure supply chain certainty and value-add to downstream processing opportunities.
“Regional logistic hubs are a step towards addressing these issues.”