RSS Feed
March 5th, 2013 
David Schulberg the 3rd
A RAFT of strict conditions has been imposed on federal approval for a $600 million tourism and marina development on Great Keppel Island.
The project, off the central Queensland coast, includes a new 250 berth marina precinct, 750 resort vilas, 300 apartments, a hotel and an 18 hole golf course.
Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke says the approved development is significantly different from the original, which was rejected in 2009.
The development’s size is 40 per cent smaller, down by 58 hectares, there are 950 or 55 per cent fewer villas in the tourism resort, and 310 or 55 per cent fewer berths in the marina.
Waste water management has been considerably improved with no discharge into the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park allowed.
The golf course, designed by Greg Norman, has been relocated away from Leeke’s Lagoon to create larger buffers for migratory birds and remove its visibility from the sea.
And the marina has been redesigned to reduce the extent of dredging.
“The conditions I have imposed will ensure that the outstanding universal value of the Great Barrier Reef is not diminished by this development,” Mr Burke said in a statement.
The minister said Great Keppel has been a tourist destination since the 1930s with the first resort established in the 1960s and expanding in the 1970s before the resort facilities closed in 2008.
Source Article from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newscomaunationalbreakingnewsndm/~3/ZnlT_X43Rcc/story01.htm
Views: 0
Posted in 
