Nullinga Dam and Other Options Preliminary Business Case

The proposed Nullinga Dam site is located on the Walsh River in the Atherton Tablelands and has been proposed as a future water supply to serve growing urban demand in Cairns and to stimulate irrigated agriculture in the region, by supplementing existing supplies.

Building Queensland completed the Nullinga Dam and Other Options Preliminary Business Case in 2017. The preliminary business case has been made publicly available to inform stakeholders and community members of the analysis underpinning the outcomes.

Commercial-in-confidence information has been removed to protect confidential information of project stakeholders, and the Queensland Government’s commercial position during future project stages.

The preliminary business case reflects the position of the project when the analysis was completed. It recommended further analysing improvements to the existing water supply scheme and, if a satisfactory level of demand was met, further investigate the construction of Nullinga Dam.

Since completing the preliminary business case, industry provided information that satisfied the triggers based on potential demand to progress to the next stage of development – the detailed business case stage.

Building Queensland has commenced discussions with SunWater and the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy to develop the detailed business case.

View the Nullinga Dam and Other Options Preliminary Business Case in full.

A summary of the cost benefit analysis, as detailed in Chapter 14 – Economic analysis, is available here.