The Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) presents a promising opportunity to project proponents that are seeking to undertake projects in Northern Australia.
On 17 July 2020, Keith Pitt, the Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia, announced that the statutory life of NAIF would be extended by five years to 30 June 2026. In making the announcement Keith Pitt stated:
“This execution is the first step under the statutory review of the NAIF that aims to implement changes to enable a more flexible and faster approval process for proponents looking to access the facility.”
The extension of NAIF's statutory life and corresponding statutory review is a promising development as NAIF's statutory life was due to expire on 30 June 2021 despite it only having committed approximately $2.1 billion of its $5 billion lending facility (as at 21 July 2020). Provided the approval process can be accelerated moving forward, the continued existence of NAIF is likely to
