WITH an application submitted by the Bowen Pipeline Company to the Burdekin Shire Council for the proposed project to construct a water pipeline from the Burdekin River near Home Hill to Bowen, the Home Hill Chamber of Commerce is maintaining its hopes that the project planning moves forward quickly to approvals in the near future.
The pipeline project, which will benefit communities in places where people live and shop including Home Hill, Inkerman, Gumlu, Guthalungra and Bowen, was announced more than two years ago.
But it has been held up until plans were submitted to Local Governments in the benefitted areas.
The Home Hill News received advice in May, 2022 indicating that an application would be lodged with the Burdekin Shire Council “in the coming weeks” seeking their agreement to use certain parts of the road reserves for the pipeline alignment.
An application was lodged with the Burdekin Shire Council on August 3 and It is understood Council officers acknowledged receipt of the application on August 17, 2022.
The Home Hill News has regularly promoted the $300 million project because of the importance to the Home Hill community of the benefits that would come from it.
Now that an application has been received, the Chamber will continue to urge the council to act quickly towards moving the project forward on a new alignment.
This starts at Barry Road (some 18km to the west of Home Hill) and heading east, then south-east until it reaches Wangaratta Creek (the boundary of Burdekin Shire and Whitsunday Regional Councils).
The new alignment will affect Kirknie Road (crossing); Rifle Range Road (extending along the road reserve); Heatley Road (crossing and extending along the road reserve); and Inkerman Station Road (crossing and extending along the road reserve).
With an election just past, the project has received support from
both sides of parliament, Federal and State, while the LNP included an $80 million grant towards construction into the Federal Budget.
However, while the funding was announced, the Budget was not passed in parliament.
To obtain the $5 million Commonwealth Grant for the Business Case and engineering design, the project needed to secure support from the State and Minister Glenn Butcher (State Minister for Water) and Minister Mark Furner (State Minister for Agriculture) both supported the grant application, while Minister Butcher met with growers and business owners in Gumlu to announce state support for the project.
Strong support was also received from the Whitsunday Regional Council (Deputy Mayor Mike Brunker and Andrew Willcox, who is now the Federal Member for Dawson).