City of Busselton council expected to approve new Busselton Jetty Village concept

The City of Busselton council has been asked to approve the proposal at its meeting on May 11.

The council approved a proposal for a Jetty Village to be built at the end of the jetty in 2018, which would have been stage one of a larger development to include the Australian Underwater Observatory and Discovery Centre as stage two.

However, in 2019, the village project was put on the backburner after the federal government committed $13million towards stage two.

READ MORE: Jetty Inc start raffle to raise money for Underwater Discovery Centre

The May 11 agenda report said in 2020 BJI contracted Subcon to undertake the design and construction of the discovery centre and incorporate the village to enable both stages to be done at the same time, if the budget was able to extend to the entire project.

In 2021 the state government announced a contribution of $9.5m towards the project.

After this announcement BJI completed detailed designs and was forced to walk away from the project as it would have been $25 million over budget.

BJI has now re-scoped the project and the current proposal would see the Jetty Village and upgrade of services to enable stage two to be developed in the future.

BJI propose this project will cost a total of $26.04 million which includes fit out.

READ MORE: Australian Underwater Discovery Centre set to be world's biggest | 2019

The city report says $25.25 million of the proposal was already covered by state, federal, local governments and BJI funds.

BJI was applying for a further $800,000 to meet the required budget.

If the council approved the proposal, the Jetty Village would include:

If the councils approve the project it would also need ministerial approval.

Construction could begin as early as June 2022 and be completed in 2023.