Townsville Enterprise Limited is the Project Manager for the delivery of the Hells Gates Dam Business Case. This is a two- and half-year project, starting in October 2019 and scheduled for completion in April 2022. The Hells Gates Dam Business Case has been funded by the Commonwealth Government and managed by the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy under a Grant Deed.
The project is currently on schedule with the delivery of Milestone 5. There are another 5 Milestones to be delivered between now and April 2022. Townsville Enterprise Limited has engaged SMEC to complete the engineering services, environment surveys and the writing of the business case. Townsville Enterprise Limited has also engaged KPMG to deliver the economic analysis of the project, including agronomy and cropping options.
A camp site has been established at Hells Gates which has enabled Cultural Heritage inspections and monitoring, Geotech drilling and EIS surveyors to access the site and complete investigative works in developing statistics and information for the Business Case. We take this opportunity to thank the traditional owners of the land of the site, the Gugu Badhun and Gudjala peoples for their assistance and support. We also thank the adjacent landowners for their ongoing commitment to the project.
The traditional owners are currently monitoring the disturbance works on the site. The geotechnical drilling rigs have completed their works on the three of the proposed weir sites and are now concentrating on the proposed dam site with samples being taken 80m below the Burdekin Riverbed.
This is a very exciting time for the project, with environment surveys, ecology surveys, aquatic surveys, flora and fauna surveys being conducted. Piece this together with the geotechnical drilling, and we begin to get a complete picture of the potential for a major piece of infrastructure. This is the first time that such a study has been implemented into the Hells Gates region.
