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SYDNEY, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Australia's New South Wales (NSW) second major cruise ship terminal will be built in the Port of Newcastle in mid 2017.
The 12.7 million Australian dollars (9.96 million U.S. dollars) multi-purpose terminal will be 3,000 square meters and similar in scale to Sydney's White Bay Terminal, local media reported on Tuesday.
NSW premier Mike Baird said the Hunter region, commonly known as the Hunter Valley which is one of the largest river valleys on the NSW coast, will be able to grab a bigger slice of the growing cruise ship industry once the facility is built.
"This project secures the future of cruise shipping in Newcastle and gives the city and the region the opportunity to compete for the growing east coast tourism trade," he said.
Local tourism officials have been lobbying the state government for years for a permanent facility to be built to replace the temporary marquee.
"The new terminal will not only attract new cruise ships to the annual cruise season, but could also be used as a home port for cruises, which means for the first time passengers could start and end their journeys in Newcastle," Planning Minister Rob Stokes said.
The terminal's construction and associated flow-on economic activity is expected to generate an estimated 26.7 million Australian dollars (20.45 million U.S. dollars) to the regional economy.
