A massive increase in visitors to Adelaide’s waterfront area could be on the cards should the South Australian government’s recently unveiled $1.2 billion Port Adelaide redevelopment proposal go ahead.
It will be the state’s largest development project in decades according to Premier Mike Rann and is expected to attract up to 4000 people into the Port Adelaide area.
The ‘Newport Quays’ consortium, comprising Multiplex, developers Urban Construct, architects the Cox Group and C+Bus, is the preferred bidder for the project.
Current plans involve the transformation of about 51 hectares of under used waterfront land in Port Adelaide’s inner harbour for commercial, residential, industrial, recreational and tourism purposes.
“This project has the potential to provide a major boost to South Australia’s economy by creating thousands of construction jobs…and has the potential to become a great tourist destination for local, interstate and international visitors,” Rann said.
A final development scheme is expected to be completed by early 2003 following public consultation, while construction would begin later in the year. It is estimated that the project could take up to 10 years to complete.
Following in the footsteps of projects such as Melbourne’s Docklands redevelopment currently under construction, the Port Adelaide project will be the last major waterfront revitalisation of its kind in Australia should it proceed .