A new ship lift to be built in the Northern Territory Government is one step closer, with Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, meeting with the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).
Mr Gunner met with Chair, Khory McCormick, while in Queensland for the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), with Mr McCormick confirming the due diligence process to consider a loan for the project is well underway.
The Territory Government has committed $100 million for the $400 million project at East Arm and will seek additional funding through either the NAIF or the Federal Government.
The Territory Government has prioritised the ship lift project, and appointed a high-level Project Steering Group to drive construction and enable it to be operational in 2023.
The recently established Investment Territory team will lead the Project Steering Group.
Senior executives and technical consultants from across a range of key Northern Territory Government agencies are part of the Project Steering Group. The Territory Government will move quickly to appoint a dedicated project director.
The ship lift will bring $260 million into the Northern Territory economy every year. It will create about 100 jobs during the construction phase, lead to an expansion of the ship building, and repairs and maintenance industry, and generate around 400 direct and indirect ongoing jobs during its operation.
Mr Gunner met with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Minister for Northern Australia, Matt Canavan in early August 2019, to stress the importance of the Federal Government directly investing in the project given its value in providing locally based maritime service capability to Royal Australian Navy and Border Force patrol boats stationed in Darwin Harbour.
