First City Deal delivers results in report

“Key City Deal commitments such as the North Queensland Stadium and the Haughton Pipeline project are clearly having a positive impact on the economy with improvements in jobs and youth unemployment rates.”

The North Queensland Stadium in particular has been completed to 33 per cent by the end of 2018, the report stated, with 99 per cent of the 381,884 hours expended on the project coming from local workers.

Another project, a capacity upgrade to the Port of Townsville Channel, has been priced at $193 million by Queensland deputy premier and treasurer Jackie Trad, and is expected to funnel more jobs and money through the local economy.

“The channel widening project will create 120 full time jobs over six years, support 245 ongoing jobs throughout Queensland and generate more than $380 million in economic benefits over the next 40 years,” Ms Trad said.

According to the minister for cities, urban infrastructure and population Alan Tudge, the Townsville City Deal has made considerable progress to the state of the city, bouncing back from its recent flooding.

“We understand the Townsville economy still faces challenges – especially after the devastating effects of the floods —but the second year of the Townsville City Deal shows we are heading in the right direction and are delivering real projects that generate jobs and support the economy,” Mr Tudge said in a statement.

The report also stated that there has been a “noticeable improvement” in private investing, rising $70 million for residential and non-residential building approvals over the last year.

While $70 million is a significant figure, it is important to note that this is only up by $34 million over the two years the City Deal has commenced.

The City Deal has seen GDP and jobs rise in the area, rising from $57,194 GDP in financial year 2015-16 and 94,600 jobs in the area to $71,650 GDP and 108,000 jobs in financial year 2017-18.

However, tourism took a bit of a hit since the commencement of the City Deal; the tourism industry investment and attraction figures, which were at 1.278 million overnight visitors and an expenditure of $835 million for the 2017-18 financial year, is lower compared with the 2015-16 financial year, which saw 1.329 million overnight visitors and $986.3 million in tourism expenditure.

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