Public Environment Report Tarkine Forest Drive ... - Transport

1.5 Background to the development of the proposed actionIn 2009 the Tasmanian Government identified an opportunity to improve tourism accessto the Tarkine area through the development of a sealed 131 km tourist roadconnecting Myalla Road with the Arthur River Township. That project, known as theTarkine Road Project, was seeking to develop the tourist potential of the North Westregion by creating a self-drive experience for visitors and by facilitating the subsequentdevelopment of commercial tourist ventures. The Tarkine Road Project had a budgetallocation of $23 M.An extensive series of background surveys and monitoring programs had beenundertaken for that project, commensurate with the environmental and heritagevalues present. The project was referred to the Commonwealth under theEnvironment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) and wasdeemed to be a controlled action (EPBC 2009/5169) requiring assessment through anEnvironmental Impact Statement.In late 2010 the then Premier, the Hon David Bartlett MP, announced a $6.7 Minvestment in infrastructure in the North West, to be sourced from the original $23 Mallocated for the Tarkine Road Project. This budget reallocation made it necessary tore-scope the proposal and the original Tarkine Road Project referral was withdrawn.In early December 2010, the then Minister for Infrastructure, the Hon Lara GiddingsMP, announced that Cabinet had approved a revised project. This decision was basedon strong support from key stakeholders, such as the Cradle Coast Authority TarkineDiscussion Group, for a revised Project. The revised project is the Tarkine ForestDrive, the subject of this report.This budget commitment was consolidated in the 2011/12 State Budget with theProject identified as a key project and funding allocated for the period 2011/12 to2013/14.A new referral for the Tarkine Forest Drive Project was submitted on 18 November2011. On 3 January 2012, the Minister determined that the proposal was a controlledaction (EPBC 2011/6210) and that the level of assessment was to be a PublicEnvironment Report (PER).The Minister issued final guidelines for the PER in March 2012. This PER has beenprepared in response to those guidelines which are prefaced at the start of eachchapter.1.6 Outcomes and benefits of the proposed action1.6.1 OutcomesThe intended outcomes from the proposed Tarkine Forest Drive are listed below.AccessibilityAlthough much of it was originally constructed to support the forestry industry, theexisting road network has been used by local people for recreation purposes for manyyears.However, because significant sections of the route are unsealed it is not suitable forhire vehicles and this greatly restricts its accessibility to tourists. The roads were alsoconstructed to forestry standards rather than public road standards, which presents asafety risk to users, notably tourists, who are unfamiliar with it.Ref: HB09080H001 PER Tarkine Drive 33P Rev 00/DL/CL/jw 3