WHITSUNDAY MP Jason Costigan has labelled the establishment of the Urannah Dam his "pet project” and he wants the community of Proserpine to get behind his bid.

Why? Because, as he told those gathered at the Proserpine Chamber of Commerce meeting last week, "it is 60 kilometres from here, just over the range” and it would hold "three quarters of the capacity of the Burdekin Falls Dam”.

"It is a big project but there is certainly a lot of political will on our (LNP) part to pull our finger out and start building dams, because water creates wealth and jobs and I don't know too many people in this town or in this chamber who aren't interested in seeing our town and district and region prosper,” he said.

"Sugar as you all know underpins this town and nothing would please me more than to see more cane going through the rollers at the Proserpine mill because of 30,000 hectares of irrigated farm land... over that range there - it could be cane, it could be cotton - an array of crops.”

Mr Costigan said as well as the benefits to agriculture "there are mining projects in the northern Bowen Basin that will need water” and he even suggested tourism potential from a scenic hinterland tour encompassing the dam.

"And if we want to see the Whitsundays progress in terms of our population we need water security too. There is no doubt we could pipe water across the range to Peter Faust Dam (from Urannah),” he said.

Mr Costigan said, despite the fact Urannah was "arguably the best dam site in Australia”, competition for the funding would be tight, "so we have to wake up and get out of the coma and get fired up to make sure we get our fair share”.

"I'm in the privileged role as the MP but I can't do it on my own,” he said.

Mr Costigan said he'd met with representatives from Bowen Collinsville Enterprise who had been "beating the drum on this project for 20 years now”, and he suggested the Proserpine chamber executive speak to them as well.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said. "What we need is for people to get fired up about it like me and make it happen.”