Early Christmas present for CBD

Townsville City Council’s $55 million CBD Utilities upgrade will be completed early, with work expected to finish by Christmas.

The project started in 2014 and has replaced century-old water and sewer pipes throughout the CBD and sections of North Ward – and created 315 local jobs.

Installing more than 18km of new water and sewer pipes was necessary to ensure the city can cater for future residential and commercial growth.

Mayor Jenny Hill said the project was essential to ensure major developments can be built into the future.

“The new water and sewer infrastructure was necessary to ensure that our CBD continues to grow and the private sector can progress new projects,” Cr Hill said.

“We’ve finished the project before schedule and under budget so that’s a fantastic result for our community.

“Businesses in and around the city can have the confidence to invest in new projects because we have done the work to ensure our underground infrastructure will meet future demand.”

Infrastructure Committee Chair Cr Mark Molachino said the CBD Utilities project was an important plank of Council’s record infrastructure spend of $433 million.

“Council is totally committed to investing in infrastructure to build our city’s future and create jobs now,” Cr Molachino said.

Local Councillor Ann-Maree Greaney thanked city traders and residents for their patience during the CBD Utilities Upgrade.

“This has been a major infrastructure project that has required a huge amount of work to install new underground infrastructure and that has meant disruptions at times,” Cr Greaney said.

“As part of the project the work crews found a major sink hole on Stanley St, old bottles and even a horse shoe.

“I’d like to thank everyone for their patience during such major works – and importantly they will be finished before Christmas!”