The City of Wanneroo plans to outsource limestone extraction in Neerabup industrial area.
Camera IconThe City of Wanneroo plans to outsource limestone extraction in Neerabup industrial area. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Limestone extraction plan, jobs summit part of employment push for Wanneroo residents

Lucy JarvisWanneroo Times

A JOBS summit and plan to extract limestone are part of a broader push to boost employment in the City of Wanneroo.

The City will host the Wanneroo Jobs Summit 2018 at Mindarie Marina on Thursday for more than 100 people from various industries, entrepreneurs, government, education, science, technology and innovation sectors.

The June 7 event will investigate how to maximise benefits of the Metronet program through land use and strategic job creation at nearby activity centres.

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It will focus on land use planning, agribusiness and water strategic industries, research, technology and digital transformation, as well as innovation and smart cities.

It follows a unanimous council decision on May 29 to approve a business plan for limestone extraction from one of the City’s landholdings in the Neerabup industrial area.

The plan outlines an alternative revenue stream to rates, with the City proposing to outsource limestone extraction to a contractor for a 20ha land parcel that is estimated to have almost 6.1 million cubic metres of limestone and sand.

“The undertaking will provide employment for the next 10 years and more employment will be generated as the land becomes available, which will be developed for local industry,” the plan said.

“The extraction will be done in a staged approach in order to allow land to be developed.

“The market will determine, at varying times, the price of the limestone product, which will be based on the quality and grade of what is being extracted.”

The plan said the City would receive royalties from the contractor, who would re-contour the land following quarry works to approved subdivision levels.

It has identified three contractors through an expression of interest period, and plans to move to a formal tender process following the council decision.

Councillor Brett Treby said it was a “strategic step in the development in the industrial area” and part of the council’s efforts to “diminish rates”.

According to the plan, the City owns three lots covering about 197ha in the overall 1038ha industrial area, which could have been developed over the next 30 to 50 years.

Landcorp, which owns 70 per cent of the industrial area, has outsourced limestone and sand extraction from its portion in Meridian Park.