A group of local, national and international business, community and public policy leaders have joined the Murdoch University community to provide valuable advice, insights and support for the future success of the University.
Perdaman Global Services is proud to announce that our CEO, Mrs. Rambal, has joined the group of outstanding national and international change-makers and thought leaders to be part of the Vice Chancellor’s External Advisory Board at Murdoch University.
“Each member of my External Advisory Board has been selected for their strong networks, their vision and their professional tenacity,” Professor Leinonen said.
“The establishment of the Board is an important part of our 2017- 2027 Strategic Plan and Future Horizon as we seek to extend our collaborative partnerships with business, industry and government.”
“We are truly honoured to have such a diverse and talented group of individuals join the Murdoch family.”
Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers (“Perdaman”) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (“Woodside”) signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply by Woodside of gas to the proposed Perdaman Urea plant on the Burrup Peninsular in Karratha for a period of 20 to 25 years.
Perdaman’s planned Urea Plant will have a capacity of 2 million tonnes per annum and is estimated to cost US$3.3bn to build.
Key highlights of the project include:
The project will create in excess of 2,000 direct jobs during the 3-year construction phase and have a permanent staff of 200 to operate the plant on a non-fifo basis in Karratha
The plant will be Australia’s first urea export project supplying growing Asia Pacific demand
The project where possible will invest in the employment of local workforce
Perdaman has invested US$175m into the feasibility study to date
Perdaman Managing Director, Vikas Rambal said that the “dream of building a world class Urea plant in Western Australia is one step closer with our strategic partnership with Woodside. Perdaman view the development of downstream industries using the State’s gas resources as important to the ongoing creation of jobs, development of regional communities and positioning our State as a key supplier into the growth corridor of the world through Asia”.
“I would like to thank Woodside CEO, Peter Coleman, and the Board for their support of this world-class downstream project in Western Australia” said Mr Rambal.
Perdaman also thanked the Minister for Regional Development, the Honorable Alannah MacTiernan, and the State Government for their continued support of the Urea project and look forward to working together with them in partnership to complete the project and access the existing local infrastructure.
“Woodside is pleased to support the development of the Perdaman Urea project in the Pilbara Region which will create jobs and drive economic activity in the region and Western Australia” said Mr Coleman
Perdaman who was advised by EY Mergers & Acquisitions will now focus on working with the State Government on the approvals required, commence a process to finalise offtake and equity partners and complete project financing.
For further details, please contact:
Michael Anghie / Stacey Holmnas
EY
michael.anghie@au.ey.com / stacey.holmnas@au.ey.com
+61 8 9429 2334
Peter Klinger / Karen Brown
Cannings Purple
+61 411 251 540 / +61 413 080 956
The consensus is building that WA is picking itself up, but if inflation leads to interest rate hikes we will be in unfamiliar and dangerous territory.
The mixed feelings were expressed at an Australian Institute of Management WA/WestBusinessCEO Voice roundtable that asked corporate leaders: “Has WA business turned the corner yet?”
Our economic diversity, the perennial booms and busts, resource sector optimism and the risk of high household debt all featured in the discussion chaired by AIM WA chief executive Gary Martin.
ACIL Allen Consulting executive director WA John Nicolaou said slackness in the labour market was slowly being absorbed with lower underemployment, stable unemployment and full-time job creation growing.
“We are on that path towards a sustainable growth path,” he said.
Mr Nicolaou said the boom left WA with a bigger, more broadly based economy and a more sophisticated city.
“I think we are on the cusp of growing again at a more healthy 3 or 4 per cent rate, I just don’t think it’s going to be a 6-7 per cent rate that we saw during the peak,” he said.
Perdaman Group managing director Vikas Rambal strongly believed the State needed more mega-projects.
Mr Nicolaou said he thought that era was gone but investment was returning to the resource sector in the form of expansions of existing projects.
“The mining industry, clearly the dominant industry in the State, has positioned itself really well for the next upswing,” he said.
Multiplex regional managing director WA Chris Palandri said there was plenty of capacity in their market to deliver the new projects.
WesTrac chief executive Jarvas Croome agreed there was ample capacity, for now, but he did not want to see a repeat of the boom-bust cycle.
“We’ve got a real risk here, if we don’t continue to keep our global competitiveness as we come out of this cycle we’ll lose it again, we’re still under wage pressure,” he said.
“There is a window of opportunity for us but we’ve got to make sure we don’t get out of control on inflation.”
Local Government Professionals WA chief executive Candy Choo said we would never get back to 18-year-olds earning six figures on a mine site, as happened 10 years ago.
“We’ve got a real risk here, if we don’t continue to keep our global competitiveness as we come out of this cycle we’ll lose it again, we’re still under wage pressure.”
Ajilon general manager Kelly Van Nelson said the IT sector was growing after being hit by the globalisation of contracts but was seeing pressure on rates.
“Salaries came down the last five years slowly and incrementally year on year, this is the first year we’ve seen that stabilise,” she said.
Economic Regulation Authority chairwoman Nicky Cusworth said WA had always been a multi-speed economy and this was a great strength but the rollercoaster had its downside.
“Socially, the disruption of the big changes can be very, very painful,” she said.
“But economically, if you look on average for WA over say 10 or 15 years, compared to the rest of the economy we actually look stronger.
“Our wages are stronger, our unemployment rates are lower.”
Some leaders saw hurdles in building the non-resource side of the economy. Mr Nicolaou said WA was underweight in the tourism and education sectors compared with the other States.
Motor Trade Association of WA chief executive Stephen Moir said Perth was still a very expensive place to come to on holiday.
Mr Moir was also concerned about skill shortages and called for policy changes to attract more people into vocational training.
Spacecubed managing director Brodie McCulloch said the visa system could create a bottleneck in supplying a surging demand for robotics and engineering skills over the next five to 10 years if the economy does pick up.
Deloitte assurance and advisory lead Leanne Karamfiles said it was important to remember that there were benefits from challenging times.
“When things are going well and the waters are calm it’s very hard to pass competitors, it’s very hard to change your relative position in the pecking order,” she said.
“But when things are troubled, when the waters are really rough there is lot more opportunity.”
WA Museum Foundation director Jenny Allen said she was encouraged when engaging the corporate sector for endowments for the new museum.
“Because it’s about tourism, it’s about jobs, it’s about science, it’s about the future for our kids,” she said.
Despite the green shoots the business leaders are seeing there is one overwhelming concern.
“When things are going well and the waters are calm it’s very hard to pass competitors … w hen things are troubled, when the waters are really rough there is lot more opportunity.”
If the Reserve Bank tries to reign in growth-fuelled inflation with interest rate hikes, highly levered households and businesses unaccustomed to anything but low interest rates will suffer.
Mr Nicolaou said the recent boom had two aspects.
“There was a mining boom, but there was also a population boom and that … created the market for housing,” he said.
Mr Palandri said the greenshoots he saw in construction were in those suburbs that allowed some higher density but any significant rate rise concerned him.
“I don’t think the overall market is ready to adjust to a new norm in interest rates,” he said.
Bell Potter Securities head of wealth management Heather Zampatti said having household debt at 200 per cent of income was staggering.
She expected US rates would rise first which, and if the US dollar strengthened in response, Australia would be more competitive.
Australian rates would need to rise at some point, but not yet.
“This is really the thing I’m watching the most … when the interest rate dial starts to move,” she said.
Telethon Speech and Hearing chief executive Mark Fitzpatrick said if interest rates rose there would be more defaults on mortgages.
Ms Allen said there was a whole realm of social issues the State would need to deal with.
“It’s about health, it’s about mental health, it’s about homelessness,” she said.
A shopping centre in Northam, Western Australia, has become the latest in the country to install a solar car park, with the 665kW facility unveiled this week as part of a major overhaul of the Northam Boulevard Shopping Centre, that will generated nearly half of the centre’s energy needs.
The $15 million Northam project – the cost includes the redevelopment of the entire shopping centre – was developed by Perdaman Advanced Energy, an offshoot of the Perdaman Group, which bought Northam Boulevard in 2014 for $14 million with the aim of creating a community precinct at the heart of the town.
The ill-fated Collie Urea project, which reportedly attracted millions in funding support from the then state government, was supposed to boost the market for coal in the state, but hit a wall in 2011 after Perdaman became embroiled in a legal dispute with one of the region’s two coal miners, and has not progressed since.
According to Perdaman Group chairman Vikas Rambal, the company has now switched its focus to regional development and solar energy, with plans for its Port Coogee Village Shopping Centre in North Coogee, and to target other regional centres across the state.
“There’s never been a better time to invest in solar energy and we are committed to expanding our presence in regional areas,” Rambal said in a statement.
“The (Northam) installation will generate over one million kilowatt hours a year which equates to 40 per cent of the shopping centre’s annual electricity requirements.
“The new solar car park provides much needed shade for shoppers but also turns the space into a revenue generating piece of infrastructure,” he said.
“Together with the solar panels on the shopping centre roof, we have created the largest solar installation in the state and brought the Northam Boulevard Shopping Centre into the solar age.”
Whether or not the Northam project is the largest in the state is questionable, but what is certain is that commercial solar is a red hot sector in Western Australia, as it is in the rest of the country.
“The next phase of the solar revolution will be driven by commercial rooftop solar systems and that’s why we’re making it easier for businesses to take advantage of this technology,” said then energy minister, Mike Nahan, at the time.
The town of Northam in Western Australia will today announce its first ever solar panel car park constructed in the state.
The Northam Boulevard Shopping Centre which is currently going through a makeover hosts the solar panels on the car park roof.
Alannah MacTiernan, Minister for Regional Development, will officially launch the project today with the build already complete.
The initiative comes after planning dating back to last year when the idea was announced in a proposal.
The solar panels will be able to power 40% of the shopping centers annual electricity requirements according to sources speaking to the Avon Advocate.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOLAR PANEL CAR PARK PROJECT
It also provides the shopping center excellent shade as well as a revenue making stream for the establishment.
Described as the “Crown Jewel” of the redevelopment 900 solar panels have been installed on the car park roof.
This work aids Western Australia’s increasing adoption of solar energy. It follows the lead of other significant projects in the state supported by Areana, including the 2016 Megawatt(MW) solar project in City of Karratha at Western Australia’s second-largest airport, Karratha Airport.
The solar panel car park project features 340 watt solar panels and SMA Sunny Tripower solar inverters. The facility is expected to generate 1,871 MWh of clean electricity annually and prevent 1,254 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
The build was significant due mainly to how busy the airport is with an estimated 798,301 people traveling through the airport in 2011-2012.
This funding being granted as the project mirrored ARENA’s objectives of working to reduce the cost and increase the use of renewable energy in Australia.
GOOD FOR THE LOCAL AREA
The Northam development is posed to positively effect future solar projects in Western Australia and be a boost for the local community.
The city itself is also working on sustainability through a variety of projects. From replacing light fittings to installing rain water tanks on certain buildings.
Other projects the council hope to improve include purchasing a significant portion of ‘green power’ as well as new housing approvals that consider sustainability – energy efficient design, asbestos removal before relocation of 2nd hand buildings.
Northam is welcoming Western Australia’s first solar car park – which is set to provide 40 per cent of the electricity needed by its adjoining shopping centre.
The car par and shopping centre redevelopment in the Wheatbelt town was officially unveiled by Minister for Regional Development ALANNAH MacTIERNAN yesterday morning.
Nine-hundred solar panels were involved in the project as part of the 15 million-dollar redevelopment.
Northam is about to undergo a major transformation with a multi-million dollar shopping centre and solar energy investment from Perdaman Group.
Perdaman is transforming the Northam Boulevard Shopping Centre into a modern shopping and community centre with work getting underway soon.
Minister for Regional Development, Alannah MacTiernan will officially launch the project this morning and unveil the already completed solar powered carpark, which is a first for the state.
Nine hundred solar panels have been installed on the bitumen carpark.
Perdaman Group chairman Vikas Rambal said it was an exciting day for Northam and also paved the way for future use of solar powered carparks around the state.
“The installation will generate over one million kilowatt hours a year which equates to 40% of the shopping centre’s annual electricity requirements.”
“The new solar car park provides much needed shade for shoppers but also turns the space into a revenue generating piece of infrastructure.”
“It is the first of its kind in WA and showcases a unique approach to the future of energy here and globally.”
Developed by Perdaman Advanced Energy, part of the Perdaman Group, Mr Rambal described the solar car park as the “jewel in the crown” of the redevelopment.
“Together with the solar panels on the shopping centre roof, we have created the largest solar installation in the state and brought the Northam Boulevard Shopping Centre into the solar age.”
“This is a very exciting time for Northam as this re-development breathes new life into a well-known and iconic part of the community,” said Mr Rambal.
The development includes the merging of Northam Boulevard and Northam Arcade to form a shopping and community hub which includes a new medical centre, revitalised shopping mall and improved retail spaces.
“We’re delighted to have the support of Minister MacTiernan which demonstrates the importance the State Government is placing on regional development,” he said.
“It will no doubt provide opportunities for new jobs and be a huge boost to the local economy.”
“Our aim is for the new Northam Boulevard to become the new heart of the town, also giving tourists a place to visit and relax.”
“It’s all part of our commitment to transform our shopping centres throughout the state.”
“We believe shopping centres like Northam Boulevard can become so much more for local communities.”
“With the introduction of medical centres, childcare facilities and many other community facilities, shopping centres will no longer be for one specific purpose but have many benefits.”
Perdaman Group acquired the Northam Boulevard shopping centre in 2014 for $14 million with the aim of creating a precinct for the community at the heart of the town.
In the past two years, they acquired next door properties and Shire land to create a community friendly hub for the future generations in Northam and surrounding areas.
