Infrastructure Development and Investment

As the major population centre for North Queensland, infrastructure located in Townsville is of a world class standard capable of supporting a range of industries on an internationally competitive basis. Significant Infrastructure located in Townsville includes:

Port of Townsville

The Port of Townsville handles almost $3 billion worth of exports annually, contributing 12% of the State's export cargo by value. With over 700 vessel calls each year and over 400 people movements each day, it is Queensland's third largest multi-cargo commercial port with a diverse product base. The port and associated industries contribute over 7,900 local employment opportunities.

The Port facilities are well designed to handle bulk cargo with current facilities developed to service the sugar industry, local mineral refineries and exports from the North West Minerals Province including bulk copper, lead and zinc mineral concentrates and fertiliser.

Airport Facilities

The Townsville airport is located approximately 5 kilometres from the city centre. The airport has international status and up to date security facilities. Townsville Airport is serviced by 13,500 airline seats every week with direct flights to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and many regional centres in Queensland. Townsville Airport is also a dominant charter base for mining companies supplying fly in - fly out arrangements to remote mining locations.

Road and Rail Links

Townsville is placed on the major National and State highway system. Road links that run north, south, via the Bruce Highway, the Flinders Highway heading west and the two major rail networks, the North Coast line between Brisbane and Cairns and the Mount Isa line to the west, ensure the region is serviced by comprehensive transport links.

Telecommunications

High quality telecommunications facilities are established throughout the region, including ADSL2 and wireless broadband services, data and video transmission capability and Internet access.

Electricity

North Queensland is connected to the national electricity grid by a 900MW transmission line connecting North Queensland to Central Queensland providing access to reliable, low cost energy sources. The company responsible for energy transmission in Queensland, Powerlink, has commenced upgrading the transmission system between Central Queensland and North Queensland. This upgrade will provide a further 325MW of capacity on the network and will significantly reduce loss factors for major industrial users in the Townsville region.

Industrial loads in Townsville are serviced by a 220MW gas fired power station. This station was recently converted to gas. A further 370MW gas fired base load power station is also set for construction in Townsville. This power station will commence operations in 2009. In addition, Origin Energy currently operates a 290MW peak load power station to service demand during periods of heavy load.

Water

Clean, reliable and cost effective water supply is always available in the Townsville region. Townsville sources its water from the Ross, Paluma and Burdekin Falls Dam systems. Combined, these storage facilities have a capacity exceeding 2 million mega litres - or five times the size of Sydney Harbour. The Townsville region's water supply is the most secure of any northern Australian location.