Airport upgrade diagnosis: terminal

www.bucc.bundaberg.qld.gov.au

WIDELY-publicised plans to build a state-of-the-art passenger terminal at Bundaberg Airport have been scrapped amid fears it would cost $29 million to develop - almost three times the original $11 million estimate.

Instead, the current terminal will undergo a major extension to more than double its size for $6 million.

Bundaberg Regional Council will fast-track the downgraded plan, calling for tenders in three months' time.

When architects drew up plans for a new terminal at the request of Bundaberg City Council in 2006, the work was tagged for completion in 2010.

Yesterday, revealing the new terminal had been cancelled because of the $29 million cost, Bundaberg Region Mayor Lorraine Pyefinch said: “The current terminal is at capacity.”

The council had been trying unsuccessfully to draw budget carriers to the airport, and as such the $29 million building plan would incur huge debt with no guaranteed return.

The result is a downgraded scheme which will cost a fraction of the price but offer terminal enhancements - enough, she hopes, to attract interest from that elusive second carrier.

Cr Greg Barnes, who heads Bundaberg/North Burnett Tourism (BNBT), said: “It's still going to be a first-class airport ... it's the most significant step forward for tourism.”

The BNBT had overseas tour operators waiting in the wings to bring thousands of mid-range tourists here if Bundaberg could provide well-priced accommodation and better flights.

The decision emerged yesterday without warning, but the wheels were put in motion quietly by the council just before Christmas. It saw the writing on the wall and asked the architects to draw up a cheaper concept.

Rod Stiff, who owns Jabiru Aircraft and Engines at the airport, condemned the lack of consultation, saying he had never seen the concept plans now released publicly by council.

Unfortunately, the end of the new terminal has not solved another dispute at the site - over the $480,000 cost of relocating a beacon on a block of land leased by the federal government.

“We thought we might have been able to get away with that, but it still will be just slightly within the restricted area,” Cr Pyefinch said.