Townsville will benefit from a major economic and jobs boost with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars of Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) funding for construction projects in the city.
NAIF has approved loans to five key projects in Townsville worth more than $230m which together will create or support more than 1,300 jobs.
To mark NAIF’s impact to date in Townsville, Minister for Resources, Water, and Northern Australia Keith Pitt inspected construction progress at one of NAIF’s supported projects, North Queensland Cowboys’ Community, Training and High-Performance Centre, the beneficiary of a NAIF $20m loan.
Due for completion in February 2021, the state-of-the-art venue will combine community areas, multi-sport high-performance training spaces, sports medicine and sports science laboratories on a parcel of land adjacent to Queensland Country Bank Stadium in Townsville.
In addition to NAIF’s support, funding for the project is also coming from a $15m grant from the Federal Government and a $5m grant from the State Government. The Cowboys’ project is expected to deliver 213 direct jobs during construction and support another 58 direct jobs once operational. Additional indirect jobs are forecast to be generated by the project.
In addition to funding the Cowboys project, other developments in Townsville being supported by NAIF are:
- James Cook University, loans to support the construction of the Technology Innovation Complex (up to $98m) and new student accommodation ($46m)
- Mater Hospital ($19.8m)
- Townsville Airport redevelopment ($50m)
Other projects in the broader Townsville region being considered for NAIF investment include the CopperString 2.0 power project which is in NAIF’s due diligence phase.
NAIF has approved loans worth $2.3bn to a range of infrastructure projects across northern Australia, with close to a billion dollars of these investments to Queensland projects.