The New South Wales Government, Australia, has plans to launch a tender process to develop the planned Grafton Jail.

The project involves the development of a new prison through the public, private partnership (PPP) model. The new facilities will have capacity to accommodate 600 prisoners and it would employ 200 prison officers.

The project just went through a consultation phase and a tender is expected soon.

The project, which will be located about 12.5 kilometres south-east of Grafton, should be operational by 2019, after the planning process and a two-year construction period.

Last year Deputy Premier and Justice Minister Troy Grant said that state's prison population was reaching capacity at about 11,600, and a record A$1.2 billion (US$927 million) would be included in next state budget to expand and upgrade prisons.

The city of Grafton is located approximately 630 kilometres north of the New South Wales State capital, Sydney. As at June 2014, Grafton had a population of approximately 19,000 inhabitants.