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Aerotropolis take-off stalled by NSW govt delays, says key stakeholder

Martin Kelly
Martin KellyReporter

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A major landowner and developer in the Western Sydney Aerotropolis says the State Government’s failure to make key infrastructure, planning and funding decisions is costing time, money and business.

Dr Sarah Hill, chief executive of the Western Sydney Parkland Authority. Daniel Munoz

Chief executive of Ingham Property Group, Matthew Ramaley, said the company plans to develop 1.25 million square metres of “shed and hard stand space” on its 180-hectare site opposite Western Sydney International Nancy-Bird Walton Airport, which is due to open in 2026.

But Mr Ramaley told more than 200 attendees at the Property Council of Australia’s Western Sydney Outlook on Tuesday that he can’t properly price land or give prospective clients a clear development timeline because of government inaction.

“We’ve got sophisticated global organisations that want to locate themselves on our land,” Mr Ramaley said.

“But when they ask, ‘what’s the price of land and how big a block can I get for my footprint?’, I can’t tell them because we don’t have planning packages finalised, and we don’t understand what the infrastructure contribution regime is going to be.”

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Mr Ramaley said while there has been no final confirmation of fees charged by state and local government, or how they will be allocated, he estimates they could total $100 per square metre on a gross floor area basis.

“We know it’s [going to be] really, really expensive, and that’s giving us some trouble because those same tenants that are looking to locate on our land are also looking at Brisbane and Melbourne,” Mr Ramaley said.

“There have been two processes where we’ve lost tenants to places where land is, frankly, a lot cheaper.”

The main infrastructure priorities are roads, water and sewage, he said.

Dr Sarah Hill, chief executive of the Western Parkland City Authority (WPCA), the state government body overseeing the Aerotropolis, said it would take at least $100 billion to complete.

“That’s a big number, and we need our fair share now,” Dr Hill said, confirming that $20 billion from local, state and federal governments has been committed so far.

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After canvassing and evaluating stakeholder feedback last year, WPCA detailed the infrastructure priorities in a draft blueprint submitted to State Government for consideration in December.

When pressed on timing, Dr Hill said she did not know how soon decisions would be made. “That’s a mater for the relevant authorities,” she said.

Allison Heller of Ethos Urban said competition for government support was heating up in western Sydney with Liverpool and Campbelltown undergoing significant renewal.

“All these areas are also competing for infrastructure dollars, particularly social infrastructure, which is where the promise of the renewal of Western Sydney Parkland lies really,” Ms Heller said.

“We really need to do the numbers because the social infrastructure – the parks, the swimming pools, the sports courts – many of these things involve a large take which should be factored in at a very early stage.”

Sarah Kay, global client leader at Woods Bagot, the architectural partner of Western Sydney International Nancy-Bird Walton Airport, urged the current planning requirement for building design competitions to be reconsidered.

“Smaller local firms will be pushed out of their backyard if they need to start winning their work via a design competition every time – the cost is at least 10 times more than via a Request for Proposal process,” Ms Kay said.

Martin Kelly is a property reporter based in Sydney covering all aspects of commercial and residential real estate including major deals, market trends and developments. Email Martin at martinkelly@afr.com

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