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Hastings jobs galore Grand plan for
international port
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MORE than 4000 jobs are expected to be created as Western Port becomes home to Melbourne's second international container port by 2030. Almost half of the jobs should be available by 2015. |
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Roads and Ports Minister Tim Pallas visited Hastings last week to announce the grand plan for the Port of Hastings. The Long Island precinct, north of Hastings, will transform into an international container port as the Port of Melbourne reaches capacity, expected around 2030. The work will be done in three stages, with the port to start taking bulk cargo, general cargo and cars in stage one. The move, which has massive implications for the region's road and rail network, cements long-held fears for Western Port's fragile ecosystem. The ``Port of Hastings Land Use & Transport Strategy'' details a plan to transport half of the freight from the port by road and half by rail. The Western Port Highway will be upgraded to a freeway and to a four-lane divided road into Hastings. Port of Hastings Corporation chief Ralph Kenyon could not put a timeframe on the works, but said it would not happen overnight. ``It (road works) will coincide with stage two,'' he said. ``It will depend on how we progress with stage one and population growth.'' Mr Kenyon put four rail options to the Government and two of those were in the Pallas plan. They are a rail corridor near the Western Port Highway and one within the Peninsula Link and EastLink corridors. The Department of Transport will now investigate both. A key element left out of the plan is a proposed Gippsland rail corridor. Southern Victoria Community Action Group president Catherine Manning said this was a win for residents whose land would have been carved up. More reports, p8-9 |
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