By Jeremy Sollars
BREAKING: The Federal Government has announced $4.8 million in funding for expansion of the John Dee Warwick export beef abattoir.
Federal Maranoa MP David Littleproud announced the massive boost at the plant this morning, Monday 31 July, with the money – from the ‘Building Better Regions’ program – to assist John Dee in constructing a new $15 million cold storage facility on site.
The facility will enable the abattoir to streamline product handling and is expected to create 150 new local jobs, in addition to John Dee’s existing workforce of 630, along with 80 new ‘indirect’ jobs along the John Dee producer supply chain.
John Dee CEO Warren Stiff told the Free Times the new facility – construction on which is expected to start in September – will alleviate product handling and storage “bottlenecks” within the plant, allowing processing areas to operate more efficiently and to increase overall production.
Mr Stiff acknowledged the assistance of the Southern Downs Regional Council in putting together the company’s application for the Federal funding, which Mr Littleproud said was the single biggest injection of Federal funding into the Warwick area.
The new cold storage facility will be build on-site adjacent to the existing plant and will be linked by overhead conveyor systems, with new product-handling robotics currently being installed in the product packaging area of the abattoir.
Read more in this week’s Free Times on Thursday 3 August.
