Rockhampton Regional Council is laying the foundations to grow the region’s population with a $77 million investment over the next three years in water and sewerage infrastructure which headlined today’s Budget.
Mayor Tony Williams said the next three years would see Council invest heavily in essential infrastructure so that the services are in place for more housing, more industry and more people calling Rockhampton home.
“Today’s Budget contains a major investment in three catalyst infrastructure projects – the North Rockhampton Sewage Treatment Plant (NRSTP), the Gracemere Sewage Treatment Plant (GSTP) and the Glenmore Water Treatment Plant (GWTP).
“These projects are the key to unlock a bigger and better Rockhampton because they allow us to service an additional 16,000 homes. Without them, we’ll find ourselves constrained to grow substantial new housing development in as little as three years.
“At the same time, economic modelling predicts these projects will create a benefit to the local economy with 300 local jobs generated and $107 million added to the local economy.
“We have already received some support from other levels of Government towards these projects but, given the cost and the benefits they will deliver to our region, we will keep talking to them to see how we can partner on these projects going forward.
Water Councillor Donna Kirkland said these upgrades would deliver not just bigger services, but better ones.
“As part of the Sewage Treatment Plant upgrades, we’ll be changing the style of aeration during the treatment process. This will mean that the process of treating the sewage is more effective and energy efficient resulting in lower energy cost,” Cr Kirkland said.
“These three projects are all at different stages with the NRSTP design completed and set to go to tender in the coming months for commencement of construction before Christmas. The Gracemere STP project will commence detailed design stage in the coming months and the Glenmore WTP Upgrade Project is already underway with the project awarded to Alliance Automation for the completion of a design and construct project. Expenditure on all three projects is expected to ramp up significantly over the next 12 months.
“About 65% of the connected population in Rockhampton relies on the NRSTP day in, day out, and it is approaching its design capacity now. That’s why we’ll be looking at progressing this one first with the upgrades set to increase capacity by 50%, meaning it will be able to service 75,000 people alone.
“I’m also very pleased that these projects will drive better environmental outcomes – less nutrients and effluent will go back into the environment, reduced carbon dioxide emissions through energy efficiency gains, and we expect to see more opportunities for re-use of treated water in irrigation.”
