Construction work has officially begun on the new Visitor Centre at Monarto Safari Park, creating 136 South Australian jobs during construction.
Construction work has officially begun on the new Visitor Centre at Monarto Safari Park, creating 136 South Australian jobs during construction.
Zoos SA has formally announced today that South Australian Company, Mossop Construction + Interiors has been selected to do the building work after conducting a two-stage procurement and tender process and finalising the guaranteed maximum price agreement.
Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack and South Australian Premier, Steven Marshall inspected the progress with Zoos SA’s CE, Elaine Bensted.
“We are delighted to announce that Mossop is building our new Visitor Centre at Monarto Safari Park,” said Zoos SA CE, Elaine Bensted.
“This is a very exciting moment in the incarnation of Monarto Safari Park into one of the largest safari experiences outside of Africa. We will definitely be complete by February 2022 but we are working alongside Mossop to see if we can be complete by Christmas this year!” finished Elaine.
The Visitor Centre project received $11.25m of funding from the Australian Government and $4.55m from the State Government towards a total $16.8m cost of building the new Visitor Centre.
The Rural City of Murray Bridge is also contributing to the project through the construction of a new slip lane entry from Monarto Road.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development Michael McCormack said the $16.8 million project would provide enormous economic benefits to Monarto and neighbouring regions.
“With this investment, the Visitor Centre will be able to attract new visitors to the region, create ongoing jobs and cement the safari park as a must-see tourism attraction,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
“Monarto Safari Park is set for major redevelopment, with the Visitor Centre being the first stage.
“In addition to the creation of 136 jobs during construction and 89 ongoing positions, this will enable the safari park to be better equipped to really pounce on the rapid growth in visitors they have seen in recent years,” finished the Deputy Prime Minister.
Premier of South Australia said the Visitor Centre will simultaneously create jobs while creating a premiere tourist destination in South Australia.
“This Visitor Centre will be yet another drawcard for Monarto Safari Park which attracts around 160,000 local, national and international visitors in a normal year,” says Premier Steven Marshall.
The completion of the Visitor Centre will shortly be followed by the opening of the Wild Africa precinct including a 560-hectare safari experience and luxury hotel and glamping accommodation being built by private investor Gerry Ryan. This will be open by mid-2022.Monarto Safari Park is located at Monarto Safari Park, Old Princes Highway, Monarto South.
Story originally published by our media partner, Glam Adelaide.
