Mackay Waterfront vision needs $200m

Developer says infrastructure funding vital to bring PDA alive

Draft PDA plans.

EXCLUSIVE: The development of Mackay's Waterfront will now require State and Federal support - to the tune of about $200million over the next 20 years - according to developer Mark McGrath.

The council's Mackay Waterfront Priority Development Area was declared by the State Government while they were governing from the Mackay region last week and has been an 'active' project as of 9am Friday.

Eager not to see the PDA just sit and collect dust as others have, the Mackay developer said, "It's estimated that it will take $200million, of council, state and federal money to develop the PDA over the next 20 years”.

"And that's yet to be confirmed, but that's the sort of number we're looking at to provide the trunk infrastructure needed to support this development.”

The funding, Mr McGrath said, should come from successive state and federal government budgets, including Jackie Trad's first budget as Treasurer in June.

Mr McGrath, also the regional head of lobby group the Urban Development Institute of Australia, has also called on the state government and the council to form a three-way steering committee with the UDIA to ensure the Mackay Waterfront PDA doesn't collect dust as Townsville's PDA has.

"The thing to grasp is that Townsville has had a PDA now for four years, and not one project has started,” he said.

"(The) council as the planning authority, the state government as the overarching state authority and the Urban Development Industry Association which represents the development industry, (must) work together in a three-way steering committee to plan and activate the key sites both private and public in these key areas.”

The council has said it will move into the planning phase for the next 12 to 18 months, to determine what is underneath the ground in the priority development area.

Mr McGrath said the council should be familiar with its trunk infrastructure.

"Council should know where their trunk infrastructure is,” he said.

"Successive councils have failed to do that, and now we're playing a bit of catch up. It needs to be done, that's great.

"Time is a great teacher, but it kills all its students, we need to simply get on with it.”

Mayor Greg Williamson said he could not pre-empt what a steering committee would look like without first approaching the rest of the council.

"It's a project that we will want to have to external influences on,” he said. "We will certainly welcome input across the board, but the structure of it will be up to the council to decide.”

The council first approached the State Government in 2016 with its vision for Mackay's waterfront and CBD.

Originally published as Mackay Waterfront vision needs $200m