A multi-million redevelopment of the Strahan waterfront that will provide infrastructure for the next 50 years officially opened on Monday.
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The $6.5 million upgrade to the wharf and cruise ship terminal building was designed to meet the growing needs of the West Coast community and tourism industry.
Liberal Braddon MHA Adam Brooks said the project “future-proofed” the wharf for further development.
“Today is a really exciting time for the community but also for where the West Coast is heading,” Mr Brooks said.
“… It’s a fantastic outcome and now we just need to get more and more people coming down (to the West Coast) to use wonderful facilities like this and we know we have more work to do.”
The upgraded wharf will accommodate tourism operators and commercial fishing vessels while the new cruise ship terminal will provide modern facilities for World Heritage Cruises and the RACT-owned Gordon River Cruises.
RACT Group chief executive Harvey Lennon was “blown away” by the new terminal and said it’d help the company better showcase its West Coast tourism products.
Mr Lennon said it was a very important project that would support tourism growth on the West Coast.
“We look forward to continued growth. It’s important we’ve got this opportunity to support the visitor economy in Tasmania,” he said.
The West Coast Council also chipped in $75,000 to help upgrade the street scaping around the waterfront.
Mayor Phil Vickers congratulated TasPorts on a project he said provided “a significant improvement to this important precinct”.
Mr Brooks thanked everyone who was “pulling together” to ensure the West Coast was on the radar of Tasmanian tourists.
“It’s things like this (waterfront redevelopment) that will help deliver more people down here, which helps the economy, which helps jobs, which helps investment… ,” he said.
Locals have also called for upgrades to another prominent feature on the Strahan foreshore: the West Coast Visitor Information Centre.
The Liberals pledged $375,000 to upgrade the centre and Mr Brooks said the project was “certainly on the horizon”.
Lachlan Bennett
Lachlan Bennett is a journalist based in Burnie with an interest in politics, primary industries, transportation, tourism and the West Coast.
Lachlan Bennett is a journalist based in Burnie with an interest in politics, primary industries, transportation, tourism and the West Coast.
