Whenever I attend events across the city, I see and hear immense pride in our community.
Often it’s the little things that people say. It could be a passionate volunteer of a sporting organisation, or a resident speaking highly of our parks or libraries.
Sometimes, it’s people from outside the city championing our credentials and advocating on our behalf.
Recently I was asked to participate in a sod-turning exercise with Singapore’s Mapletree Investments and Queensland construction company McNab.
I was joined by Deputy Mayor Jon Raven, fellow Councillors Jacob Heremaia and Miriam Stemp, council staff and other representatives.
The occasion was to turn the dirt on a massive 36-hectare parcel of land at Pointcorp’s $1.5 billion Crestmead Logistics Estate.
It’s here that Mapletree is investing around $500 million. While the enormity of the project is awe-inspiring, it’s the confidence that these major investors have in our city which speaks volumes about our capability and our credibility.
When general manager of Mapletree Australia, Marc Lucas, spoke about our city as the place to do business, there was rapturous applause from those at the event.
He spoke of the confidence that his business had in the growth of logistics and City of Logan’s quality of space and excellent connectivity to key transport nodes.
He also spoke of the positive working relationship with council and the professionalism of our staff to help bring his vision to reality.
While this project is a total gamechanger for our city, it also sends a clear message that City of Logan is again open for business.
Approved under council’s innovative RiskSmart approval process, it’s one of the biggest DAs in the city’s history.
What gets me most excited are the thousands of jobs tied to these mega projects and others like them, at places such as Berrinba and Park Ridge.
City of Logan is well and truly punching above its weight. Always has.
We are fast establishing our city as the hub of transport and logistics in Queensland.
We are seeing record jobs and investment and after a challenging 12 months with pandemic lockdowns, these kind of projects are just the tonic we need.
It also means that when heavy hitters such as Mapletree come to our city, they talk about us when they return home.
That sparks new conversations and potentially new investment in our city.
Logan is quickly becoming the one to watch.
