NEW ROMA OFFICE FOR DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND WATER OFFICIALLY OPENED

The new Roma office of the Department of Natural Resources and Water (NRW) was officially opened today, Minister for Natural Resources and Water Craig Wallace announced.

The office, to be named Archibald McDowall Service Centre, commemorates the surveyor who first surveyed Roma in 1862 and later went on the become Queensland’s Surveyor-General.

The centre will provide services including vegetation and stock route management, valuations, the management of State land, land titles and forest products and help to implement the new State Rural Leasehold Land Strategy.

The centre was opened by Mike Birchley, Regional Services Director, South-West Region, on behalf of Mr Wallace.

“The opening of this office is a significant milestone for the Department of Natural Resources and Water,” Craig Wallace said.

“It consolidates staff from our Forest Products division and other NRW staff under the same new roof at 1-3 Alfred Street.

“This is important from the point of view of providing streamlined and efficient service to our clients. They can now be assured of conducting all their business with NRW under the same roof,” he said.

The Roma district contributes significantly to the economy of the State and along with the traditional grazing, cropping and forestry industries, the local mining and energy sector is expanding rapidly.

“This growth is only going to continue and so it is essential we provide the infrastructure and resources necessary to offer top quality service to the local community,” Mr Wallace said.

Facts and figures for the new Archibald McDowall Service Centre include:

·NRW’s Roma office is the second largest office in SW Queensland after the Toowoomba office.

·Over 100 clients a week are expected to access the customer service centre to speak to 30 staff in nine different business units.

·NRW and its predecessors have been in Roma since its foundation in the 1860s. Indeed, Archibald McDowall laid out the town.

·The annual wages bill for the 30 NRW staff is $1.8 million, with further office costs of $195,000.

·Fitout and lease costs were $950,000.

Mr Wallace said the new Roma accommodation was the second relocation of staff under the same roof in South West Queensland in recent months.

“The department consolidated its services in the Dalby district as well and that is working splendidly,” he said.

“In that case we reconfigured an existing office space to house the additional staff, while in Roma a new office complex was needed.

“These major capital works projects will ensure that the people working in this area will have access to modern offices with the best possible resources.”

Media inquiries: Paul Childs, Craig Wallace’s office, on 0407 131 654.