NAIF loans $13.5m to develop Alice Springs food storage and warehouse facility

A $13.5m loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility will help improve food security for remote and regional NT communities.

THE Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) will provide a $13.5m loan to redevelop a food storage and warehouse facility in Alice Springs.

The facility services more than 100 local stores covering an area of 1.4 million square ­kilometres.

Agriculture and Northern Australia Minister David Littleproud said the project would improve food security for remote and regional Indigenous communities across Central Australia.

“The funds will help the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation build a state-of-the-art ammonia-based refrigeration facility and improve the existing warehouse to meet future demands around food distribution,” Mr Littleproud said.

“The location of this new facility in Alice Springs will mean fresh food and essential goods will be closer to the communities that need them.

“This project will also support 60 new jobs during construction and 20 roles during operations”.

NAIF chief executive Chris Wade said the loan was the first provided by NAIF directly to an Indigenous Corporation. “We are delighted to support the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation with this loan,” Mr Wade said.

“This investment is part of the government’s $5bn loan facility for infrastructure projects across Northern Australia and takes the total amount committed by NAIF to date to $3.1bn.”

The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT’s (AMSANT) Food Security Summit, held in Alice Springs in June, discussed potential solutions to remote communities’ inaccessibility to affordable and healthy food.

AMSANT chief executive John Paterson earlier said increasing JobSeeker and other federal government subsidies was key to addressing “one of the most pressing issues facing Indigenous communities”.

Historically remote community residents have paid, on average, 60 per cent more in their stores for a healthy food basket, with many travelling to regional towns to buy cheaper groceries.