Developers, the Stevens Group, have finalised their plans for the centre and expect to lodge them with council in January.

The service centre will be state-of-the-art with specialized trucking facilities, a major car petrol facility and four restaurants, including two separate drive-through facilities.

There will be parking for about 10 trucks and 120 cars.

More than 130 construction jobs will be created during the building of the centre, with 50 permanent and casual positions long term at the facility.

“At this stage tenderers for construction have not yet been selected and this will be finalized at the approval stage,” Stevens Group managing director John Stevens said.

“The new service centre will be the first stage of a 70ha industrial subdivision owned by the Farrawell family. Construction works on the new centre are scheduled to begin in mid-2012, once full access is provided to the site as part of the new bypass.”

The Kempsey Bypass Alliance is building a fly-over at South Kempsey which will include two roundabouts to provide access to the centre.

Mr Stevens said interest was being sought from companies interested in opening a franchise at the centre.

“Heads of Agreement have been signed with a major oil company for the centre which will be announced in the first quarter of next year,” he said.

“Already some major national restaurants have shown strong interest in being considered as part of the centre.”

Employment applications for locals will be taken in the second half of 2012.