What will the construction of the world’s biggest pumped hydro scheme 70 kilometres west of Mackay mean for our region and the real estate sector?

In short: a lot.

The proposed dam and hydro scheme in the Pioneer Valley is expected to provide half of Queensland’s energy needs at its planned completion date in over a decade.

This project, which will dwarf the Snowy Hydro Scheme, will employ many thousands of people and, if it goes ahead, will be a major driver of our economy.

The announcement was very short on detail and we really need a lot more information than we had at the time of me writing this column for us to speak confidently about what it will mean.

As always with projects of this magnitude, there will be people who suffer and, in this case, residents in parts of the Pioneer Valley will be forced to sell their properties to accommodate the dam. We need to be conscious of what that means for those people and those residents will need support and consideration.

There are certainly questions to be asked about locations effected and what it will mean for services, transportation and the impact on communities.

Those details will emerge in the months and years ahead but the opportunity a project of this size provides for Mackay cannot be underestimated.

The project will employ thousands of people and will offer enormous opportunities for local companies that, until now, have largely been servicing the mining sector.

This will mean apprenticeships for local kids and career paths for Mackay people who will benefit from the certainty of long-term employment.

We should also expect the project to create an influx of workers to Mackay to help meet the demand for the skills that are required for such an enormous engineering project.

Of course, the Premier said the dam and hydro scheme is part of the Government’s effort to phase out coal, so it will be welcomed by the climate change cheerleaders. But what we know is that she is talking about thermal coal, used in coal-fired power plants, not metallurgical coal.

The vast majority of the coal we dig out and export is metallurgical or coking coal, used to make steel, and there are no plans to phase that out.

So, we could have one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country being built on our doorstep while we continue to export the best metallurgical coal in the world.

That would be great for businesses, jobs and our economy. The influx of people to Mackay will also be terrific for the real estate sector as it will add to demand for housing and give confidence to those who have bought in Mackay.

With such a long-term project many people who move to Mackay will want to buy properties rather than rent. But if this all goes ahead, our lack of rental properties will become a big issue for the local and state governments.

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