Shire wins National Economic Development Award

The Shire of Manjimup has received major recognition at the Economic Development Australia 2017 Awards, taking out the National Award for Economic Development Excellence, in the Economic Development initiatives Under 15000 Residents category.

The Shire secured the award for its strategic development and delivery of Stage 1 of the Revitalisation of Manjimup's Town Centre project at the Awards function in Ballarat last Thursday night.

The success of Stage 1 of the project exceeded expectation and has been a demonstrable economic coup for the Shire of Manjimup. Shire President Paul Omodei commented "Independent economic analysis has determined that Stage 1 of the Revitalisation of Manjimup's Town Centre project has delivered 120 direct ongoing operational jobs with private capital investment of $18.65M into the Manjimup community from the initial public investment of $5.89M."

"Our organisation has worked extremely hard to put Manjimup on the map as an emerging regional centre in partnership with the State Government and we are thrilled to see significant increasing investor confidence in the region. Recognition of economic development through awards such as the one received will continue to keep an investment focus on Manjimup and the wider region" Cr Omodei said.

Following the success of Stage 1 of the Revitalisation of Manjimup's Town Centre project, significant additional funding secured for Stage 2 from the State and Federal Governments, and LotteryWest in addition to the contribution from the Shire of Manjimup will allow the completion of the transformational project in Manjimup.

Cr Omodei added, "Based on the independent economic analysis the total job impact of overall Revitalisation of Manjimup's Town Centre Project is projected to be a total of 512 ongoing direct and indirect operational jobs. The creation of jobs is fundamental to economic development in regional communities and this will assist us in growing local population in alignment with strategies outlined in the Manjimup Townsite Growth Plan".

Lucid Economics conducted the economic impact assessment on the Manjimup Town Centre Revitalisation.

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