Mary Valley to be rebuilt
A plan to rebuild the Mary Valley following abandonment of the Traveston Dam was announced in Parliament this week by Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney.
Mr Seeney said there had been more than a hundred inquiries about buying properties or being involved in projects.
As a result of the previous government’s purchase of land to be affected by the dam, the government owns 13,000 hectares of land across 468 properties, plus water allocations.
“The strategy aims to create conditions to enable private sector investment and development, building an economic backbone of economically viable agricultural enterprises which will in turn make the communities of the Mary Valley viable and vibrant once again,” Mr Seeney told Parliament.
“We will be proactive in offering support and assistance to agricultural industries in the private sector to establish this economic backbone,” he said.
Mr Seeney has appointed Gympie MP David Gibson as chair of the Mary Valley Economic Development Advisory Group “to provide strong local input in the process and to ensure that local knowledge is made full use of in reestablishing the economy of the Mary Valley”.
After three years of controversy the $1.7 billion Traveston Dam project was canned by federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett in 2009 on environmental grounds.