A KEY figure involved in the original investigation for an inland port at Parkes has welcomed Monday’s announcement that it would finally receive funding.
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Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Deputy Premier John Barilaro visited Bathurst to unveil the NSW Government’s 20-Year Economic Vision for Regional NSW, which included an announcement that the Parkes port would be funded from the Snowy Hydro Legacy Fund.
Bathurst resident Alex Ferguson came to the Central West in 1993 as the CEO of the Central West Economic Development Group, which was tasked with finding the economic drivers of this part of regional NSW.
“After a couple of years of research, we came to the startling realisation that we’re largely driven by the rural economy and, unless we find gold next to a major town – like Cadia – we are likely to remain so,” he said.
Mr Ferguson said that further research found the future was tapping into the global agricultural market, capitalising on the changing nature of Asian middle class families, who were becoming wealthier and adopting western eating customers.
“There was an opportunity for us to change the agricultural product mix and in the process change our skills base, change our attitude towards packaging, the way we trade and in broad terms we should ideally become a market-driven agricultural base,” he said.
The research led to the development of the Inland Marketing Corportation Economic Feasibility Study, which looked at agriculture and the supply chain.
“The IMC over six or seven years spent nearly $4 million in research.
They then highlighted the need for the freight hub in Parkes.
“We can actually bring road, rail and air together in inland NSW and break the nexus between a coastal port and regional anywhere,” he said.
Mr Ferguson said “federal politics, bureaucracy, big banks and coastal airports” had stood in the way.
