Lower Fitzroy Infrastructure Project - Rookwood Weir

The Lower Fitzroy River Infrastructure Project (LFRIP) involves the provision of new water storage infrastructure on the Fitzroy to meet future water demands and improve water security for residential, industrial and agricultural users in Rockhampton, Gladstone and the Capricorn Coast.

In May 2016, the Commonwealth Government provided the Queensland Government with $2 million to prepare a business case for the LFRIP. Building Queensland prepared the business case on behalf of SunWater and Gladstone Area Water Board, with the report released in January 2018. The reference project for the business case involves construction of a new weir at Rookwood, capable of supplying 76,000ML of water per annum.

The proposed Rookwood Weir site is located on the Fitzroy River, 66 kilometres south-west of Rockhampton. Other infrastructure required include augmentation to and construction of access roads, low level bridges upstream at Riverslea and Foleyvale crossings and installation of culverts at Hanrahan Crossing downstream.

The project’s capital cost is estimated to be $352 million (with $29.3 million already expended) with a delivery period of four years and with operating costs of $55.2 million over 26 years. The Queensland Government announced in February 2018 that it would fund half the capital and operating costs of the project if the Federal Government provided the remainder of the funding. In April 2018, the Federal Government confirmed it would fund $176 million of the project, meaning that the project's capital cost is now fully funded.

In July 2018, the Queensland Government announced that a proponent had been confirmed for the project. SunWater will develop and operate Rookwood Weir, integrating the infrastructure into their existing network which includes Eden Bann Weir and Stanwell Pipeline.

Expressions of Interest for the project opened on 2 October 2019, and close on 29 October 2019. This will be followed by a tender process in early-2020, with the contract expected to be awarded by mid-2020.

The project is expected to take four years to complete.

The business case found that the demand required to achieve a Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) of one is 34,000ML from the Gladstone Area Water Board and Livingstone Shire Council and 23,200ML demand from the agricultural sector.

The project's business case was evaluated by Infrastructure Australia (IA) in June 2018, with IA finding the project had a BCR of 0.64. As such it has not been listed as a Priority Project on IA's Infrastructure Priority List and is instead listed as a near term (0-5 years) Priority Initiative.

The 2019-20 Federal Budget allocated $9.6 million over five years to establish the North Queensland Water Infrastructure Authority. The Authority will support the development of water infrastructure, including Rookwood Weir.