“PORT HINCHINBROOK” = “SEVERE SILTATION”
Media reports 2013 quoting Antony Dotta potential buyer: “FINANCIAL SUICIDE”
In the public interest
What the Queensland Government and Cassowary Coast Regional Council said.
What the Queensland Government and Cassowary Coast Regional Council said.
Sale of Port Hinchinbrook resort hangs in the balance
Courier Mail, August 5, 2013 … buyer [Dotta] describing the current deal as "financial suicide.'' …
Mr Dotta said there had not been "full disclosure'' … Cr Shannon said the council would not be spending money to solve the problem … "From our perspective, it isn't for 30,000 ratepayers of Cassowary Coast to bail out people in a private development,'' he said. |
Government deal blamed for Port Hinchinbrook resort demise The Australian Aug 28, 2013
Signed by Williams Corporation and the three levels of government in the 1990s, the deed ties the developer to ongoing maintenance of the resort, including dredging of the marina and upkeep of sewerage, roads and street lights. Prospective Port Hinchinbrook buyer Tony Dotta … axed the deal because the state government wanted to hold his company to those maintenance obligations. "It's financial suicide," he said. A spokeswoman for Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney, Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, said Williams Corporation voluntarily entered into the deed. "This is a commercial matter between the developer and the unit holders and the state is not in a position to bail out a commercial enterprise with public funds," the spokeswoman said. |
Misery at Club Muck
The Australian Financial Review Aug 31 2013 “This place is financial suicide," says Dotta, who claims to have wasted a truck-load of money and time in his bid. “It is absolutely whacko," he says. Long-term residents claim they “knew they had been duped" by the management back in 2004 when they saw the bottom of the marina coming out of the water at low tide because of the build-up of silt. “This project is never going to come off because of the original problem that was identified by the state government in 1977," says Margaret Moorhouse, spokesman for the Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook … “The marina and connected canals that were dug would never be able to be kept navigable because of severe siltation," says Moorhouse. “The project was built on the myth that you could have a Gold Coast development, golden beaches and sparkling blue water in a mangrove wilderness. Williams was not King Canute – he could never hold back all the silt," she says. … Queensland state government’s infrastructure and planning department said not only did it not have any responsibility to the resort but that it was owed about $850,000 for dredging work. Bill Shannon, mayor of the Cassowary Coast … said he would also oppose any move for public funds being used in the resort’s restoration. "This is a privately owned complex and always has been," Shannon says. “It is not appropriate for others to take responsibility for the infrastructure." |
Download PDF