FED: Timber town braces for a boom

AAP General News (Australia)
12-06-1998
FED: Timber town braces for a boom

SYDNEY, Dec 6 AAP - The New South Wales timber town of Tumut breathed a collective sigh of
relief today after news it had secured the first pulp and paper mill to be built in Australia
in nearly 20 years.

Federal Industry Minister Nick Minchin said today the government would provide a $40
million package to Australian-owned Visy Industries to establish a $450 million kraft pulp and
paper mill in Tumut, in the states south.

With Christmas just weeks away, the towns six and a half thousand residents could not have
wished for a better present and the Tumut Shire Council is predicting a major boom for the
district.

"The towns been almost holding its breath on this for 12 months or more since Visy first
announced Tumut was its preferred site," councils environment and development manager Paul
Mullins told AAP.

Local authorities are now bracing for a population explosion as unemployed timber workers
flock to the district in the hope of securing one of nearly a thousand jobs expected to be on
offer.

Construction was due to start next year and the mill was expected to be operating by 2000
or 2001 according to advice from the company, a spokeswoman for Senator Minchin said.

"Tumut is home to six and a half thousand and the shire is 12,000, but as a result of the
project we expect an increase of 2,500 to 3,000 in the town over the next five years," Mr
Mullins said.

"I would say this means a large boom for Tumut."

The project was the first to be announced under the governments Investment for Growth
industry plan unveiled 12 months ago, Senator Minchin told the Nine Networks Sunday program.

While the mill itself will only employ about 140 workers, a further 600 to 800 jobs will be
generated by associated timber industries.

The Tumut mill would be the first fully-integrated pulp and paper mill established in
Australia since Australian Newsprint Mills plant in Albury in 1981, Senator Minchin said.

The mill would produce unbleached pulp and paper and would rely on plantation pine
resources rather than native forests, he said.

The increase in Australian production of unbleached kraft liner board, used for boxes,
would replace imports as well as meet Asian demand for paper and packaging, he said.

The mill was expected to produce 300,0000 tonnes of pulp, 240,000 tonnes from virgin fibre
and 60,000 from recycled paper.

Senator Minchin said the incentive package included funding mainly from existing government
assistance programs, with the balance made up by a cash grant.

AAP sb/ear/bjm

KEYWORD: PULPMILL NIGHTLEAD

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