The South Australian Government has signed off on the first stage of development for its GlobeLink Master Plan – its vision to transform and upgrade the region’s freight export infrastructure.
The State Government will now issue a tender for the project management and consultation for Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the plan, which South Australian Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Local Government Stephan Knoll said is a significant step to delivering the “generational upgrade”.
“South Australia produces some of the best food and beverage in the world and we have a capacity to increase our primary production output, increase exports and bring more dollars into our economy,” Mr. Knoll said.
“GlobeLink will make road and rail freight more efficient and give South Australian businesses better access to lucrative export markets.”
The project aims to divert road and rail freight around the back of the Adelaide Hills, removing heavy trucks off key metropolitan roads and freight trains out of built-up areas.
“Stage 1 of the Master Plan involves problem and opportunity identification and assessment, and Stage 2 will see option development, assessment and shortlisting,” Mr. Knoll said.
“Given the scale of this initiative, the Master Plan will be developed as part of a multi-stage planning study with a tender for the remaining stages to be issued following the completion of these works.”
An Industry Reference Group, consisting of freight, road and rail industry bodies, the primary production sector, local government and stakeholders, will be formed as part of the process.
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