By Kate Bastable.
The $405 million Mackay Base Hospital redevelopment is included in the $46 billion list of projects being planned or built in the region.
The $1.1 billion Missing Link and the $845 million Abbot Point Coal Terminal expansion spearhead the $46 billion list of projects being planned or constructed in the Mackay-Whitsunday- Isaac region.
The Regional Development Register for the November quarter, which was released by the Regional Economic Development Corporation on Tuesday, shows about $30.6 billion of the projects are under study.
REDC chief executive officer Narelle Pearse said this indicated growing investor confidence in the area.
Also included in the register are the $405 million Mackay Base Hospital redevelopment, which is currently under way, the $8.8 million stadium, more than $3.5 billion in energy projects and a string of land and housing developments, including several high-rise buildings.
The register also included upgrades or extensions to four schools in the Mackay and Sarina areas.
Ms Pearse said the long-awaited Northern Missing Link was one of the most important projects for the whole Mackay region.
Announced by Premier Anna Bligh in October, the 69km railway will connect the Goonyella coal rail system to the Newlands rail system.
It is expected to create 500 jobs in the building phase alone, with construction expected to begin in April and be completed by January 2012.
Mackay's economy will also benefit from a proposed coal rail line, which would run from Alpha and Kevin's Corner to Abbot Point.
Ms Bligh announced the project in December and mining giant Hancock Prospecting is currently doing a year-long "bankable feasibility study", which is expected to employ 400 people and inject $100 million into the state's economy.
A $845 million development at the Abbot Point Coal Terminal and upgrades to the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal and Hay Point Coal Terminal are other important projects listed on the register.
"Boom Two" is expected to boost Queensland's coal exports by 42 per cent and generate another 15,000 jobs in the Mackay-Whitsunday region by the year 2015.
This has the capacity to create another 30,000 job opportunities in other industries.
Taken from The Daily Mercury 15 January 2010