Eden predicts 1,300 jobs and $350 million in benefits from Anglesea project

THE team behind Eden Project Anglesea is talking up the economic benefits if the $150 million development goes ahead, claiming the eco-tourism project will create more than 1,300 jobs.

Eden says its estimations, prepared using Surf Coast Shire and state government data and assumptions, are that the project at Alcoa’s Anglesea mine will create 300 ongoing full-time jobs and another 200 jobs in the wider region.

The $150 million development is estimated to create 170 direct jobs and another 700 in the G21 region during the construction phase.

The project is also predicted to generate $350 million in the Surf Coast Shire in its first 10 years of operation.

Eden Project International chief executive officer David Harland will give a presentation about the benefits that will be generated by Eden’s plan at today’s G21 Stakeholder Forum at the RACV Torquay Resort.

Speaking to the Times News Group earlier this week, Mr Harland said the economic projections were “a pretty healthy set of numbers” and were “definitely reliable”.

“The shire and the state government have a number of economic calculators, so we’ve employed an independent expert to put our numbers through their calculator.”

He said Eden Project Anglesea had already committed to including local businesses in its supply chain, and that most of the 1,300 jobs created would similarly be filled by local people.

“One of the things we’ve got to work out is just what skills are available.

“The talent is definitely there in Australia.”

The two biggest hurdles for Eden Project Anglesea since it was publicly revealed earlier this year are the approval of Alcoa’s strategy for the mine to fill with water more rapidly and determining which planning authority (the Surf Coast Shire or the state government) will run the Anglesea Futures project (within which Eden Project Anglesea will sit).

Mr Hartland said progress had been made on resolving both issues.

“It’s being discussed in the right direction. I think there is a solution out there, it’s a matter of everyone agreeing on it.”