Mareeba is poised to share in a jobs bonanza if a proposed new dam at Lakeland comes to fruition, the Mareeba Chamber of Commerce June business luncheon heard.
David Kempton, chair of Regional Development Australia (Far North Queensland and Torres Strait), told the meeting a $825,000 Federal Government options study had identified a dam site on the Palmer River as the “most economically and environmentally viable” option to provide more water for agriculture in Lakeland, 190km north of Mareeba.
The dam would yield about 80,000 megalitres of water, pumped to a storage facility and run through a hydro power generation scheme before being distributed by gravity to landholders to support about 6,000 to 8,000 hectares of irrigated agriculture.
Mr Kempton said Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack had committed funding to take the proposal to preliminary design, with tenders for various components to be called in the coming months.
Mr Kempton said the options study found more than 1000 people would be employed during construction of the dam, and more than 1200 jobs created in the Lakeland region after its completion.
“If this opens up about 8,000 hectares of high production country anybody involved in irrigation or supply goods and services will benefit,” Mr Kempton said.
“It will bring a lot of indirect business into this town.”
In welcoming the project, Mareeba Chamber of Commerce chair Joe Moro said Mareeba was well placed to benefit.
“The chamber welcomes any project that will deliver more jobs for our community, provided it meets the necessary legislative requirements, and is economically viable and environmentally and socially sound,” Mr Moro said.
“As a chamber, we have been working hard to position Mareeba as a vibrant retail, trade supply and professional service commercial centre for Mareeba, and also satellite areas including Lakeland.
“The Mareeba Industrial Park has become a major transport hub for the region, and with some additional work to continue to upgrade our road and bridge network to cater for increased traffic brought by the expansion of agriculture in Lakeland, it will continue to thrive.
“When opportunities such as this arise, our community is ready to take advantage.”
