The transfer of the livestock centre from Midland to Muchea is estimated to deliver a $467 million economic benefit to the state over 20 years as Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance calls for tenders.
The transfer of the livestock centre from Midland to Muchea is estimated to deliver a $467 million economic benefit to the state over 20 years as Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance calls for tenders.
The transfer of the livestock centre from Midland to Muchea is estimated to deliver a $467 million economic benefit to the state over 20 years as Agriculture and Food Minister Kim Chance calls for tenders.
Mr Chance said the new Muchea facility would service Western Australia's regional and remote meat and livestock industry for the next 100 years.
"More than one-million sheep and 150,000 cattle are expected to go through the new centre each year," he said.
"The Muchea facility, located on a 300 hectare site, will be built with funds from the sale of the land assets at Midland."
The Minister said $11.7million had already been spent to buy the land, prepare the site and design the building.
The state government is keen to encourage tenderers to identify cost saving solutions from within the specified design.
He also said moving to Muchea would make way for the expansion of the commercial and industrial precinct in Midland.
"The transfer to Muchea and the decommissioning of Midland has been estimated to deliver a $467million economic benefit to WA over 20 years," he said.
Mr Chance said the Muchea facility would become the major hub in Western Australia for the livestock transport industry, boasting an eight-bay truck wash and truckers amenities.
He said the Muchea centre will not be anything like a traditional saleyard and will offer revolutionary facilities such as transhipment services for long-haul cattle, private weighing, drafting and handling, as well as live export aggregation facilities.
"Other livestock related businesses will also be located on site and these may include stockfeed, mechanical and engineering servicing agents," the Minister said.
"It is ideally located on Muchea East Road with a future road-train direct access route and linked to future plans for the Perth to Darwin Highway."
Mr Chance said the new centre would be state-of-the-art in terms of environmental management, animal welfare and occupational health and safety features. For instance, animals would be housed on soft flooring resulting in less stress to them.
"A one hectare transhipment area for long-haul pastoral stock would be a feature of the new livestock centre, enabling stock that had travelled long distances to be rested, fed and watered, prior to preparation for sale," he said.
Work on the new facility is expected to start before the end of this year.