Morwell Industrial Park

Updated: March 2022

A large parcel of land east of Alexanders Road in Morwell will be the location for a future large industrial park. The development will cater to a range of sectors including food and fibre, manufacturing, heavy industry and other auxiliary services.

Morwell has long supported a range of large industries, and this precinct (approx. 280 hectares in total), is ideally located close to a range of other established supporting industries. In addition to large parcels of suitably zoned land, supporting infrastructure including water, sewer, and electricity connections can be supported at this location.

We’re working with the Victorian Government, Latrobe Valley Authority (LVA), Latrobe City Council and VicRoads to promote economic growth and create jobs in the region. A critical component of this work is the provision of January 2022 infrastructure to attract and support businesses looking to operate in the region.

The 2021-22 Victorian budget allocated $10 million for the Morwell Industrial Park to facilitate greater water and energy demands – creating the conditions for businesses to invest with confidence.

The funding will assist with the delivery of vital construction upgrades such as the connection of power, water and sewage along with building better access to the site to facilitate the movement of heavy vehicles and manufacturing equipment.

This page outlines our capacity to support industry in this area including an assessment of available water both potable and raw, and our wastewater treatment capacity. If you’d like to discuss how our services can support your initiatives, please email our Business Transformation team at businessenquiries@gippswater.com.au

Download the Morwell Industrial Park fact sheet (PDF).

Location of proposed Morwell Industrial Park (includes current zoning and potential zoning to the north and east).

the north and east).

Methodology

We held a series of internal workshops to assess the capacity of the existing system as well as other constraints and opportunities that could impact the proposed Morwell Industrial Park.

Workshops focussed on:

• The minimum servicing requirements for the Morwell Industrial Park including reticulation assets and assets required to service the area.
• The likely impact on the Morwell potable water system and its capacity to service small, medium and high volume customers of potable water.
• The likely impact on the Gippsland Water Factory in Morwell and its capacity to service small, medium and high volume producers of wastewater.

Examples of what makes up a small, medium and high volume customers are explained below.

*Assuming 4 lots per hectare

*Assuming 4 lots per hectare

Assessment

Vision and strategy

Our key principles and strategy for developing the Morwell Industrial Park are:

• Careful consideration of energy use, in line with our move to 100% renewable energy by 2025 and net zero carbon emissions by 2030, as well as Victorian Government expectations.
• Achieving the lowest cost service for all customers. Our customers expect value for money.
• Avoiding or adequately managing environmental damage. We’re committed to protecting the environment.
• Providing solutions for as many industrial customers as possible. Improving the economic climate in the Latrobe Valley is a key driver.
• Significant industry seeking to relocate to the Latrobe Valley can negotiate individual servicing solutions with us.
• No costs of establishing the Morwell Industrial Park will be passed on to existing customers.

Available capacity

Available capacity (subject to conditions) for the development of Morwell Industrial Park include:

• The Morwell water treatment plant has capacity for an additional 3 ML per day.
• Significant low quality non-potable “raw” water is available near the park.
• The urban wastewater treatment system at the Gippsland Water Factory has capacity for an additional 3 ML per day.

Opportunities

There are a number of opportunities for the Morwell Industrial Park:

• We have a well-developed servicing strategy for water and sewage services within this growth corridor.
• The Morwell Industrial Park is currently zoned appropriately for industrial and commercial greenfield development opportunities.
• The construction of a new water treatment plant and associated pipelines in the future will improve the system’s ability beyond the capacity stated above to continue servicing Morwell and Traralgon into the future.

Assumptions

In making this assessment, we have assumed:

• Wastewater will be managed through the domestic streams of the water factory.
• All potential new customers will meet trade waste acceptance specifications which may require industrial clients to include their own pre-treatment to meet these specifications where required. View our trade waste agreement on our website at www.gippswater.com.au/commercial-trade-waste

Based on medium customer type. Figures are estimates only.

Options

We’ve workshopped various options looking at upper limits for servicing capacity and identifying trigger points where larger network upgrades might be required.

The Morwell Industrial Park includes a total of 280 hectares of land to the north and east of the existing zoned land. The percentage of total land that can be serviced is highly dependent on the proposed water demands and sewer loadings and the costings are very preliminary. We’d be happy to discuss and provide more specific servicing advice.

We identified three options based on the medium customer type. The tables show the required investment for each option and the level of service, employment prospects and town growth that can be achieved.

Option 1

Option 1 involves installation of a new sewer pump station, small emergency storage, rising main, trunk sewer mains and water mains. This options would supply 30% of the total park - e.g. 280 hectares. This would be a significant portion of the currently zoned land. This would cost about $6M.

Option 2

Option 2 involves option 1, plus significant upgrade to the water factory and the construction of the new Morwell water treatment plant and associated pipework. This options would be triggered at 30%-35% of the entire park. This is equivalent to 2.5-3.0ML/day. This would cost about $200M.

Option 3

Option 3 involves options 1 and 2, and an increase to emergency storage at the sewer pump station site and other associated works. This option would be triggered at 50% of the park and would cost about $220M.

Infrastructure plans

We’ve developed infrastructure servicing plans and are ready to discuss servicing arrangements.