THE Chinese developers behind the proposed $400 million trade centre toured Wagga yesterday and met with city council officials to progress the plans.
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Wuai Group representative Zhaoxiang Jin said his wish was to have a development application lodged in January.
“It’s important for me to visit the site and to be here to have a look at our project ... we need to have a serious discussion with the local city council,” he said.
“With this all happening we need to have the support of local government and another investor.”
It will be the first time Wuai Group has built a trade centre outside China and it will partner with Sydney-based company ACA Capital Investment on the job.
It is hoping for strong support from local and state government to help the project proceed.
Visa flexibility was part of the discussion around the investment in a regional area instead of a capital city, with more flexible regulations making it easier for companies to bring in some staff.
“There is always the need and will be the need for international companies ... to send their people here, so that has to be a consideration,” member for Wagga Daryl Maguire said. The tour yesterday covered all parts of Wagga, including suburbs, shopping areas, the Livestock Marketing Centre and the ROBE oilseed plant at Bomen.
“They were interested in the residential suburbs, they were interested in the price of houses, where people shop ... they were just interested in the whole liveability of the city,” said council’s director of commercial and economic development, Peter Adams.
Fast facts
* $400 million trade centre
* 2500 jobs created. With the standard economic multiplier of 2.8, the development could create 7000 new jobs.
* Effectively it’s a large permanent trade expo where companies have stalls and can display their goods.
* 3750 stalls for companies. Some companies may take multiple stores.
* Companies can sell anything including furniture, electrical goods, food, wine, clothes, shoes, textiles and sporting goods.
* Companies display one of each of the goods they are selling. They have staff at their stalls to discuss the goods and take orders.
* Visitors come and view the items on display and place orders for their own business. The orders may be for one carton of goods, or hundreds of cartons or even container loads.
*The proposed trade centre will also have 250 five-star hotel rooms for visiting business people.
* Entertainment and conference facilities will also be built and restaurants will also be created.
* A memorandum of understanding has been signed between Wagga City Council and the Chinese state-owned company, Wuai Group, which is leading the development.
* A full development application must be approved by the state government before the project can progress.
