It has been a long time coming, but work has already started on the $500,000 Powranna truck wash and it is scheduled to open by April 2018.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The truck wash is adjacent to Robert’s Powranna Livestock Marketing Complex, which is leasing the land to owners and operators, Northern Midlands Business Association.
Association member Gordon Williams said the Powranna truck wash would reduce livestock droppings on Tasmanian roads and prevent spread of weeds and diseases.
“With thousands of truck movements and hundreds of thousands of livestock animals, the Powranna truck wash will be an ongoing asset to business, the environment and biosecurity,” Mr Williams said.
“The Powranna truck wash will use computerised, state-of-the-art management systems to allow access and use of the truck wash using online payments and a keycard subscription system,” he said.
Launceston planning consultants IPD have been working on the project at Powranna for the past six months.
In the weeks before Christmas the truck wash footings, slabs and shed frame will be completed, with the shed clad in January, IPD Consulting owner Mark Walters said.
Work is due to start on the effluent system by the end of January and be finished in March, ready for the truck wash commissioning stage.
“The current aim would be to be operational before April but we’ve still got to go through a few planning stages and regulatory approvals before we’re allowed to turn everything on,” Mr Walters said.
Primary Industries and Water minister Jeremy Rockliff said he had been pushing to build truck washes throughout the state for a number of years and was happy to see the first underway at Powranna, which is a livestock hub.
“It’s terrific to see some construction happening. These truck washes have been a passion of mine for a long time. It’s great to see the idea come to fruition,” Mr Rockliff said.
“Truck washes are, like weed management, an example of post-border biosecurity measures and I’m excited about this.
“What this infrastructure will allow is two B-doubles at once and up to 2000 washes per year on a user-pays system. It’s great for animal health and great for the local amenity,” he said.
Northern Midlands mayor David Downie said the truck wash at Powranna would become an important tool for livestock carriers.
“This is a very important infrastructure project for the livestock industry in Tasmania, which is growing very substantially, both in price and with people investing,” Mr Downie said.
“This is a precinct that is growing. On Powranna Road we’ve got industrial business activity going on here and at the other end we’ve built a bigger, wider bridge for the extra traffic,” he said.