Infrastructure Victoria has released a discussion paper encouraging community and stakeholders to have their say about the future capacity of Victoria’s container ports.
As an independent authority, Infrastructure Victoria was requested by the Victorian Special Minister of State to provide advice on the need, timing and location of a second container port in Victoria.
Infrastructure Victoria’s CEO Michel Masson said by releasing the discussion paper, stakeholders and the community could see the approach being taken in preparing the advice.
“The scope set out by government is clear. We need to provide advice on when to invest in extra ports capacity, and where – at either a Hastings or Bay West location,” said Mr Masson.
“We will consider a range of aspects in preparing our advice, including the environmental, economic and social impacts of developing a new port.
“In some areas, we are not starting from scratch. We will consider any existing work provided to us on the previous assessments of these sites, and undertake technical investigations where there are gaps in our knowledge.”
Infrastructure Victoria is inviting feedback on the key factors that need to be investigated in the development of the advice, and seeking existing evidence.
“Stakeholder and community input will be an important part of the advice we provide to government,” said Mr Masson.
“In this initial phase of engagement, we are inviting input on our advice development process, and whether we have identified all the key factors necessary for deciding when a second port will be needed, and where it should be located.
“Feedback we receive will help us ensure we know what is important to stakeholders and the community on this topic.
“We want to be sure that we are considering every aspect in developing the advice to the Special Minister of State.”
All inputs received in 2016 will help form the evidence base, which will be released for another phase of engagement in early 2017.Advice will be presented to the Victorian Special Minister of State in May 2017.
Consultation will run on the paper until 29 September 2016.
