The Rudd Government today announced it will fund two studies to assist the Northern Territory with the expansion of Darwin's East Arm Port.
This announcement follows Chief Minister Paul Henderson's far-sighted announcement today to fund a significant expansion of Darwin port's facilities
The Australian Government will fund two separate studies associated with this long term investment in Northern Territory economic infrastructure.
The ‘All Tide Access' study will assess the needs of Darwin's East Arm Port to ensure ‘all tide' access for LNG, Panamax size and larger vessels.
The ‘Technical and Financial Feasibility' Study will assess the feasibility of increasing the Port of Darwin bulk export capacity from Panamax to larger vessels.
The Federal Government will invest $3.2 million to fund these studies to help ensure that one of Australia's fastest growing regions is able to meet its future infrastructure needs.
The Northern Territory Government has lodged a detailed submission with Infrastructure Australia seeking a Commonwealth contribution to the cost of the port expansion.
Infrastructure Australia will look at the future needs of the Northern Territory, including the further expansion of the Port of Darwin, as it develops a national priority list for infrastructure investment to be completed early next year.
As part of its strategy to invest in Australia's long term economic prosperity, the Rudd Government established Infrastructure Australia, a national body tasked with developing a long term blueprint for fixing and modernising the nation's infrastructure.
The Federal Government had allocated an initial $20 billion to its Building Australia Fund, money which in the years to come will be used to build critical economic infrastructure such as roads, rail, ports and broadband.
The expanding resource and mining sectors in the Northern Territory are placing increasing pressure on the Port of Darwin.
This announcement today demonstrates the Northern Territory Government's commitment to building the economic prosperity of northern Australia.
It is important that we start work now to increase the capacity of the port to enable it to manage the increasing throughput as demand for Territory's mining and energy resources grows.