$5bn in cheap loans to develop north

The federal government is allocating billions of dollars in cheap loans for new roads, water, electricity, airports and rail projects in northern Australia.

A $5 billion concessional loan facility will be established to help boost infrastructure building in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

Another $3.7 million will go towards identifying potential new projects through an infrastructure projects pipeline.

Meanwhile, a taskforce will be established to assess ways to cut down on home, contents and strata insurance premiums in the north as a way of acknowledging the region's higher incidence risk of cyclones.

The initiatives, announced in Tuesday's budget, are designed to boost private sector investment in the north and comes as part of the forthcoming northern Australia white paper.

They are in addition to the $101 million allocated to improve cattle supply chains announced last week.