Premier Peter Beattie announced to parliament yesterday the Government was expediting preliminary work on Abbott Point and filling the 78km railway "northern missing link" between Goonyella and Newlands.
Funding of $25 million in feasibility, design and approval works for the projects had been endorsed by the Government.
The endorsement clears the way for detailed planning and engineering to finalise the route and acquire land (if necessary) for a rail corridor and planning for the port expansion.
"The usual time frame for detailed feasibility studies would be 12-18 months, and construction would take a further 24-30 months,” Beattie said.
"Clearly, the lead times involved in developing this sort of infrastructure - about four years - are beyond the horizon of the federal treasurer, who seems to think we can assess, plan and build ports and railways in the space of a sound-bite.
"We would like the work to be done more quickly than would normally be the case - but only if the fast-track is feasible.”
The Ports Corporation of Queensland and Queensland Rail will continue to negotiate with customers about recovering the costs of these projects, Beattie said.
"Ultimately, the go-ahead for these projects to be physically constructed depends on coal companies contracting with Queensland Rail and the Ports Corporation,” he said.
Transport minister Paul Lucas said capacity at Abbot Point would be 25 million tonnes per annum by the second half of 2007, up 66% from its current 15Mtpa.
"Today's announcement is on top of existing coal transport infrastructure projects in Central Queensland, which will see capacity increased by 27Mtpa over the next two years, to 175Mtpa in early 2007,” Lucas said.
"The Government is underwriting this with a $543.5 million investment through our port authorities and Queensland Rail.
"That is $208.5 million for the Gladstone Port upgrade, as well as $335 million for upgrades on the Goonyella and Blackwater rail systems and Bauhinia Regional Railway.
"As well, Queensland Rail is buying more coal trains and upgrading electric locomotives to handle bigger trains," Lucas said.
