Adani a boon for commercial property up north

In the initial stages of the pandemic, he noted a lot of businesses in the area were forced to close their doors or work from home, despite the commercial market not being directly impacted.

“But by June, most office-based businesses were back,” he continued, despite some international businesses and government departments still keeping their workers at home, which has had a flow-on effect to the viability of local cafes and food retailers.

And because the construction of Carmichael mine did continue throughout, Mr Besanko said “the industrial sector was mostly unaffected by COVID-19”.

“Consequently, we don’t have a lot of industrial space to lease as some firms supporting the mines have decided they need to have shed and the like in town rather than at the mine,” he explained.

The managing director said “without doubt, industrial is the driving force of Mackay’s commercial market”.

Acknowledging that there is an oversupply of office space, Mr Besanko does anticipate this will change “as more people and businesses come to town to support the work generated from the mining activity”.  

According to Adani Mining chief executive David Boshoff, it’s mining that has “cushioned the Queensland and Western Australian economies from the worst of the devastating economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdowns”.

He expects more jobs to be created to operate the mine and rail post-Carmichael’s construction, which he said would then influence the creation of “thousands of indirect jobs”.