IT was the battle of the dams at last weekend's community cabinet in Rockhampton as two projects vied for attention.
A series of small dams backed by six regional councils was up against a mega dam on the Fitzroy River, backed by Rockhampton businessman Dominic Doblo.
Rockhampton Regional Council Mayor Margaret Strelow said she was pleased with the hearing with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and local member and Minister for Agriculture Bill Byrne.
The council is specifically pushing the Fitzroy Agricultural Corridor, of which dam sites at Eden Bann and Rookwood were vital.
"It's all about investment briefs now. We all know and have proved within an inch of its life that this region is perfect for agriculture.
"The climate is right, the water is here, we are in the right position - not too far from the south-east corner but not hampered by the constraints of being in a heavily built up area. Now it's real business cases on the table and a collaborative project."
The Fitzroy Agricultural Corridor is a sub-set of the Growing Central Queensland project, which looks at new infrastructure, transport and logistics, supply chain and industry restructure.
The project representatives also met with Mr Byrne.
"The critical thing now is to get these dams built," Cr Strelow said.
"We all know and have proved within an inch of its life that this region is perfect for agriculture."
While Mr Doblo is also pushing to have Rockhampton expand from the beef capital to the agricultural capital, for him the only way is by creating a mega dam.
His plan, backed by a group of Rockhampton businesspeople, is to see a 2 million megalitre dam built at The Gap, some 140 kilometres from the mouth of the Fitzroy. At $4 billion, he says it is affordable.
Despite a lacklustre reception from local, state and federal government, Mr Doblo is not giving up.
He is planning a series of local television ads that show 3D modelling of the proposed dam, and has already taken out full-page advertisements in a local Rockhampton newspaper.
"There is a lack of vision in this country. Do we want to keep going backwards and letting other countries pass us and sit back and whinge?"
He is frustrated by what he sees as years of government inaction and is fighting tooth and nail for his plan.
"The reason I have jumped on this is that everyone wants infrastructure and agriculture.
"When I went to a global food forum last year, they said there is an opportunity to double agricultural production in 15 years.
"We cannot double agricultural production without doubling water."
Central Queensland had everything here - an international airport, roads, rail, Port Alma and the Port of Gladstone - and there was no need to build billions of dollars of new infrastructure as plans further north required.
But building "two bath tubs" on the Fitzroy River, one of the country's biggest river catchments, was not going to wash, Mr Doblo said.
"We cannot double agricultural production without doubling water."
His next trip is to a national infrastructure summit early next month, hosted by the Financial Review.
Mr Doblo said there should be an independent evaluation of the whole dam and agricultural situation, what expectations were and whether these expectations were being met.
Meanwhile, several industry bodies have pointed out some flaws in The Gap, including that it would flood much of the usable land adjacent to the Fitzroy River.
This is compounded by the fact there is very limited suitable land further downstream.
