WA and NT to call for new tenders but not until mid 2003.

The development of Ord Stage II still looks a long way off with the NT and WA Government not calling for tenders until mid next year.

Suggestions that a different process be used, whereby local farmers would be given the option to buy land parcels, seem to have been ignored and the governments are again looking for one big operator.

Both governments claim they have become joint proponents of the proposed development to ensure environmental approvals remain in place.

The decision was jointly announced last week by State Development Minister Clive Brown and NT Minister for Business Industry and Resource Development Paul Henderson.

The original proponents Wesfarmers Marubeni withdrew from the project in November last year.

"Ord Stage II received WA and NT environmental approval earlier this year," Mr Brown said.

"However, a number of conditions were set that must be complied with, both before and during project development and operation phases.

"The change of proponent allows the environmental approvals and conditions that were set during the environmental assessment of the expansion to remain in place.

"This means that should a new proponent decide to undertake a similar irrigated agricultural development, it may not be required to undertake a new environmental approval process that could take anywhere up to two years."

The Minister said a new proponent would be required to accept responsibility for complying with the existing environmental approval conditions.

"Further development of the Ord will bring significant economic and community benefits for Kununurra and the wider region," he said.

"We wanted to keep the ball rolling for Ord Stage II and make the process as fast and simple as possible."

Mr Henderson said the change in proponent status was made on the basis that the project area will be re-tendered in mid-2003.

"This action ensures that the current environmental approval will remain valid for a period of five years from its commencement date in February 2002," he said.

"The present Ord Stage I generates approximately $70 million of mixed agriculture and horticulture produce per year and the development of Ord Stage II is likely to triple the area under irrigation."

The Kimberley Primary Industries Association (KPIA) has welcomed the move.

Executive officer David McKerrell said the KPIA believed that any action, such as the one mentioned that can speed up the development of further irrigation in the Ord, is most welcome, as was the statement that "Work is continuing to resolve outstanding native title, heritage and water allocation issues, some components of which are dealt with in the conditions for environmental approval."

"Whilst any development proposal is welcome, the KPIA and the Ord Development Consultative Committee (ODCC) would prefer to see a staged development program rather than the one big proposal," he said.

The reasons for this are as follows:

* To re-tender the one big proposal will be a slow drawn our process;

* Industry needs time to develop suitable crops and markets for the new production area. With an intended size of three times the current Stage 1 what will be produced needs to be seriously considered and well planned;

* There is a need to retain land value levels where current owners can retain reasonable equity, and yet the land is valued where a return from most crops can be viable;

* Local contractors need to be given the opportunity to invest in the necessary plant and machinery to do this sort of development, and there needs to be ongoing work for them to cover their investments;

* For any new development, the capacity of the Shire and the town of Kununurra to cope with that development will need to be increased. Staged development would place a lot less stress on capacity building, and the retention of more on-going employment would be a lot greater and

* An example of the type of staged development that KPIA and ODCC prefer are, the separate development areas of Green Location and Mantinea which are seen as ideal starting points for new development.

Mr McKerrell said other points from the two Governments statement welcomed by KPIA were: recognition of the valuable role played by the ODCC as a community link with Government and its agencies, recognition of the $70 million annual contribution to Kimberley wealth generated by sales of produce from the irrigation area, and most importantly of all, confirmation that both Governments remain committed to the project.

The governments' announcement came amid fears that the WA Government had lost interest in the project.

No reason was given of why it would take so long to put it out to tender again.

The longer the process draws out the grimmer the future looks for the sugar industry in the Ord Valley.