The fast-tracking of the Cairns Base Hospital upgrade is welcome news for the region, provided the Cairns Airport privatisation is managed with diligence and caution.

Advance Cairns Chairman Russell Beer, commented “both developments were critical to the region, but should not necessarily be linked. The eventual development plan for both the airport and the hospital must be based on an assessment of what is right to ensure the region’s future economic and community health needs”

Private ownership of the airport brings with it responsibilities to the region and its population, and we would expect that future potential owners give a commitment to ongoing support for the tourism and regional economic development sectors which have benefitted from the cooperative partnership with CPA.
 
Advance Cairns will work with its constituent bodies the Cairns Chamber of Commerce, TTNQ, and the Cairns Regional Council to monitor developments and ensure the interests of the region will be best served after privatisation.

As a prime regional city it is essential Cairns possess high quality infrastructure and services to meet growing population needs and ensure that we retain strong tourism flows.

It is critical therefore that the upgrade of the hospital is not at the cost of the airports expansion of services and capacity.

It is essential that we retain a viable domestic and international airport, and we would hope that the potential for greater investment in the airport and associated facilities is realised, and attracts additional airline capacity and support services to the region.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 12:47 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.