Federal Minister for Resources, Energy and Northern Australia Josh Frydenberg announced that as part of the government’s development of the NAIF, his department had released its exposure draft legislation, which will be debated in early 2016.
The NAIF consultation paper was released in November last year, and after public consultation with over 200 stakeholders, the proposal and framework received positive feedback.
Part of the infrastructure facility is focused on facilitating a national gas network by linking the Northern Territory’s (NT) gas network to the east coast grid, via the Northern Gas Pipeline.
The 622 km, 355.6 mm diameter pipeline will run from Tennant Creek to Mt Isa, with the first supply of gas expected to come from existing offshore and land-based operations in the NT.
Construction on the pipeline is scheduled to commence in 2017, with commissioning expected in 2018.
McConnell Dowell has been selected as the construction contractor for the pipeline.
The NAIF will commence operation on 1 July 2016 and will provide $5 billion over five years for the construction of economic infrastructure, which will aim to provide economic and population growth in northern Australia.
State and Territory governments are expected to play an important role, including entering into loan agreements with project participants as negotiated by the independent NAIF Board, while the Federal Government will provide the funds and bear the financial risk of these loans.
More information is available here.