AT LEAST one resident of beleaguered Dunedoo is insisting that it be protected by the attachment of conditions to the future sale or lease of the Cobbora Coal Project (CCP).
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Straight talker and owner of the town’s only supermarket Trish Booth wants the state government to ensure that the 32,500 hectares of land purchased for the CCP not sit idle indefinitely when it is in new hands.
One of the rumours circulating in a town, where residents report of being left out of the information loop, is that there is an interested purchaser.
Mrs Booth isn’t necessarily jumping up and down at the prospect.
“Whoever buys it should be given a timeframe,” said the proprietor with husband Colin of the 5 Star Supermarket in the town’s main street.
“If they haven’t got it opened within five years, they lose it.
“If you buy it, you develop it, and you turn it into what it should be.
“They should not buy it, sit on it, so the price of coal can stay up.”
The CCP was the brainchild of the former NSW government that sought to supply power stations with large volumes of cheap coal from Cobbora.
The Cobbora community estimates about “80 families” sold up and left the community to make way for the mine, resulting in significant economic and social consequences for the district taking in Dunedoo.
A change of government in March 2011 led to expert examination of the CCP and advice to NSW Treasurer Mike Baird that it would cost taxpayers $1.5 billion to take it to production.
The treasurer has successfully negotiated the termination of contracts and announced that the asset will be sold or leased.
Transition Fund of $20 million to stimulate the economies of affected local government areas—Warrumbungle, Dubbo, Mid-Western Regional and Wellington.
That day Dubbo MP Troy Grant, chairman of the government’s Cobbora Transition Committee, said he remained optimistic that the the mine would be developed in the future.
“I am aware of some opportunities and interest on the horizon and the NSW Minerals Council chairman Stephen Gallilee shares my optimism,” he said.
“Until then however, the NSW Liberal Nationals government recognises the need to invest in the area that pinned its hopes on a project that unfortunately was unsustainable under the last government’s ‘dud deal of the century’.”
Dunedoo residents are insisting that the town deserves at least 60 per cent of the $16 million remaining in the fund after each council gets a guaranteed $1 million.
The loss of loyal customers at Cobbora and surrounding localities has hit small business in Dunedoo particularly hard.
