SMEC Secures Hells Gate Feasibility Study

SMEC will lead a team of local businesses to complete the feasibility study into the one million mega litre dam and 100,000 hectare irrigation scheme.

SMEC has been engaged by Townsville Enterprise Limited (TEL) to lead the Hells Gate Dam and Irrigation Scheme Feasibility Study in the Upper Burdekin catchment of Northern Queensland. The 12-month study will determine the dam’s engineering, environmental and economic feasibility.

Project scope of work includes: water resource and cropping assessments; agronomy and field studies on soil conditions; concept engineering of Hells Gate Dam, Big Rocks Weir, irrigation infrastructure, power supply, road and associated infrastructure and water delivery to the City of Townsville; ecology and environmental assessment; stakeholder relations; and economic assessments.

TEL CEO Patricia O’Callaghan said TEL was pleased that SMEC was leading the study. “They are a global leader in assessing large-scale infrastructure developments and have a track record stretching all the way back to the original Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme,” she said. “The company has had a long association with Townsville and the North Queensland region and did some of the original preliminary studies into Hell’s Gate.

Full media release here.