PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Major resource projects in the Northern Territory are set to benefit from more investment by the state government.
The territory government announced plans to invest an additional A$2.44-million over the next two years, to attract and deliver new projects to boost the region’s economy, and to create local jobs.
Chief Minister Michael Gunner said the 2018 Budget would also provide A$1-million to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to expand its environmental assessment and approval teams to advise on environmental impact assessments, authorisations and regulation of major projects in the Northern Territory.
“Budget 2018 continues this government’s record of investing in job-creating infrastructure right across the territory. It’s a budget also focused on facilitating private sector investment and getting projects out of the ground as quickly as possible,” Gunner said.
“Major private projects and government facilitated projects contribute significantly to the territory economy through the creation of jobs and business opportunities.
“The Department of Trade, Business and Innovation (DTBI) has responsibility for the delivery of nine facilitated investment projects valued at over A$30-billion, and 18 projects with major project status valued at over A$10-billion. This equates to around 10 000 construction jobs, plus 3 000 jobs during their operational phases.”
Gunner said the additional funding would boost the strategic infrastructure and projects team in DTBI, enabling the government to deliver new private sector and government-facilitated projects in the territory.
The resources projects to benefit from the government investment includes the Darwin liquefied natural gas (LNG) expansion, the Prelude floating LNG facility being developed by Shell, the Mount Todd gold mine, the Ichthys LNG project, Arafura Resources’ Nolans Bore rare earths project and the Mount Peake project being developed by ASX-listed TNG.
“As was highlighted through our Economic Summits, we need to continue leveraging private sector investment because these projects will create thousands of jobs during construction and ongoing phases and of course indirectly by boosting our tourist and business assets.
“There are several projects currently progressing to potential major project status or requiring assessment; this funding to DTBI will provide resourcing to assist project proponents to develop proposals and enable government to consider them faster.”
He added that the A$1-million to DENR for environmental assessments and approvals of major projects would allow efficient and effective environmental regulation and timely approval decisions to help maintain investor confidence.
“Environmental approvals can be highly complex for major projects, which reflects their scale and significance, this funding with help with that work,” Gunner said.
“These approvals ensure our valuable natural environment is protected and are important milestones for developments to proceed and progress, therefore the timely and efficient regulatory approvals are critical to maintaining investor and community confidence.”