Published Tuesday, 24 January 2012
The site will include 9,000 burial plots, memorial gardens and landscaped parkland, and will be constructed close to the M1 motorway.
Northern Ireland currently has only one crematorium - Roselawn in Belfast.
Environment Minister Alex Attwood said there is a growing need for burial capacity around the Greater Lisburn area, and this new one could provide up to 40 years worth of new space.
"We only have one crematorium in the north," the SDLP minister told UTV.
"In the greater Belfast and Lisburn area we are fast running out of burial plots, other crematoriums only have three or four years of life left in them, therefore the Moira option was one I had to consider."
Mr Attwood said only 18% of people are cremated in NI, a low figure compared to 75% in England.
He added that there may even be a need for more than two sites.
"It did seem to me there was a need for another one, and there might even be a need for more than two," the minister said.
"There is an application in Omagh for a £1m crematorium but I will leave the planning system to come forward with advice in that regard."
The Department of Environment says the Moira site will be integrated into the area without causing "undue harm" to residents.
It is hoped it will provide a much needed community facility "in an accessible and attractive location" when completed.