Buller Mayor Garry Howard says progress is being made by Renew Energy Ltd and China Tianying Inc to establish a waste-to-energy plant in Westport.
"Council needs to start thinking of potential infrastructure that may well be required including road and water,'' Mr Howard said in a report for the Buller District Council meeting this week.
China Tianying engineers are working on preliminary engineering work for the resource consent submission.
Accommodation for workers, including specialised engineers, would have to be considered, Mr Howard said.
Renew Energy would work with the council to provide a briefing to the West Coast public before the resource consent application was formally submitted.
"This potential development is a parallel to the Milburn New Zealand establishment of the cement works where power, water, roading, rail and port were all part of the development along with worker accommodation.''
Advocates for the Westport "waste to energy'' project revealed recently they did not need money from the $1billion Provincial Growth Fund in order to move to the next step.
Earlier this year, the project was awarded $350,000 for a feasibility study from the growth fund, only to have it put on hold when the Government realised that a director of the company was subject to an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
In May, Renew Energy Ltd said China Tianying Inc would own and operate the proposed $300million plant at
Westport.
