Two Bendigo businesses have been awarded $13 million worth of contracts to help supply Victoria’s Desalination Plant, which has created 25 new jobs in the region.
Water Minister Tim Holding, who today visited Ortech Industries’ Golden Square factory as part of the Bendigo Region Community Cabinet, said the desalination plant was providing a boost for businesses right across Victoria.
“The Brumby Labor Government is undertaking record investment in water infrastructure across the State which is ensuring communities have enough water while also providing a boost to local economies and creating jobs.
“Bendigo businesses and workers are among the many Victorians who are benefiting from this vital water project and already about two-thirds of the $650 million contracts awarded for projects have gone to Victorian companies.”
The plant will provide up to 150 billion litres of water, regardless of rainfall, for Melbourne, Geelong and towns in Western Port and South Gippsland from the end of 2011.
Ortech Industries was awarded a $7 million contract to manufacture the steel beam system and acoustic ceiling panels that form the desalination plant’s living, green roof and has hired 10 new workers.
Ortech will manufacture 44,000m² of acoustic ceiling panels to absorb sound. The Government has placed strict visual and sound requirements on the desalination plant, requiring it to blend into the coastal landscape and meet noise regulations.
Made of wheat and rice straw fibres that would otherwise be burnt as agricultural waste, the ceiling panels are an environmentally sustainable building product.
Ausform was awarded a $6 million contract to build concrete water retaining structures to transfer billions of litres of seawater around the plant site as part of the desalination treatment process with 15 new staff now on the job at the plant site.
Mr Holding congratulated Ortech Industries and Ausform for their work on the project.
“This is one of the biggest and most complex infrastructure projects that has ever been undertaken in Victoria and it’s a great that local companies are benefiting,” he said.
AquaSure’s design and construction company Thiess Degrémont is building the Desalination Plant for the Victorian Government.