New Pacific Highway route will decimate sugar cane industry

CANE farmers are not happy with the Roads and Traffic Authority's (RTA) latest plan to upgrade the Pacific Highway.
Clarence Cane Growers Association (CCGA) president Vince Castle said if the proposed route, released last week, went ahead up to 50 per cent of cane land in the Valley could be lost.

"It's going to have a huge impact on our industry," Mr Castle said.

The CCGA has based its calculations on the new highway including a 150-metre cleared corridor.

"When you combine that with the indirect loss of land that we believe would come into fruition if the highway goes through, cane farms would be cut in half, or worse," Mr Castle said.

The CCGA estimated 150-200 hectares of cane land would be lost between Harwood and Iluka.



"We can't avoid that," Mr Castle said.

But what he said could be avoided was the loss of cane land around Tyndale.

Mr Castle said the proposed route would cut farms into pieces in the Tyndale region, farmers houses would be compulsorily acquired and new cane pads would be relocated to flood-prone land.

"On the south side at Tyndale, there were four other options put up and they have all been ignored," Mr Castle said.

The RTA's cane working paper, released with the concept design last week, has disputed the figures put forward by the cane industry and calculated around 192.5 hectares of cane farm land across the entire Valley would be affected by the proposed highway route.

The paper also stated 11 cane farm houses would have to be acquired, along with a number of sheds and other structures directly affected.

The release of the concept design last week surprised the cane industry.

"We are surprised they have gone ahead and put out the proposed route on public display without consulting us," Mr Castle said.

"They said they have gone to great lengths to address the canegrowers concerns but as far as I can see there has only been one small change made in one area."

Representatives of the NSW cane industry will meet with the RTA in Maclean on February 4.

Mr Castle said they would be asking questions such as where were canegrowers going to live if their houses were acquired.