Posted on December 28, 2017
By Daniel Bateman, Cairns Post
A DECISION to approve the Cairns Shipping Development Project could be made by the State Government as early as next month.
The Co-ordinator General has accepted the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed dredging and widening of Trinity Inlet shipping channel to accommodate larger cruise ships.
State Development Minister Cameron Dick said he expected the Co-ordinator General to complete his evaluation of the EIS and finalise his report early next year.
“Very importantly, this decision and key milestone also means that the EIS process will continue, rather than lapsing on December 31, 2017,” Mr Dick said.
“This ensures that the transitional provisions in the Sustainable Ports Development Act 2015 are preserved which allow the project’s required capital dredging to be further considered.”
Under the revised EIS for the $120 million project, the volume of dredging needed for the inlet has been reduced from 4.4 million to less than one million cubic metres of sediment.
Ports North has proposed to pump 900,000 cubic metres of “soft clay”, taken from Trinity Inlet, into an existing Barron Delta sand mine as part of the dredging project.
Mr Dick said if approved, the project would be a game-changer for the Far North.
“This project will deliver 195 jobs to the region during construction, and 2730 direct and indirect jobs as well as a welcome boost to local businesses as the demand for services, produce, tourist activities and staff flows through the economy, he said.
Before it can be fully approved, the project needs to be signed off by the Federal Government.
The Department of Environment and Energy is still assessing the proposal through a separate EIS process.
Cairns Port Development president Ron Crew, whose group is fighting to have the Cairns shipping channel dredged since the early 2010s, had hoped Deputy Premier Jackie Trad would have announced state approval of the project during her visit to Cairns earlier this week.
“It’s been long, long long overdue,” he said.
“We welcome the fact that the Co-ordinator General has accepted (the EIS) and we look forward to the approval.
“This has already taken a long time for this to come true, even though the project has been downscaled.”
Barron River MP Craig Crawford said if approved, the shipping project would transform the Far North’s cruise shipping sector.
“Cairns is one of the few docks in the country where you can dock a cruise ship right in the city, and we want to capitalise on that,” he said.
Source: Cairns Post
