Page 372 - Week 02 - Thursday, 8 March 2007
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MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Gentleman for the question. The government is very much putting its foot on the pedal to provide additional land to meet the significant increase in demand for new land in Canberra following the federal government’s budget last year. As we know, following the federal government’s budget last year announcements were made that have been predicted to bring about 5,000 additional public service jobs into our city, and that is certainly creating increased interest in and demand for land for new housing in the ACT.
In response to this, I was very pleased today to be out at the Bonython west development in Mr Gentleman’s electorate, which is the final significant land release of a greenfields suburb in Tuggeranong. So it is an interesting footnote in some respects; it is the final bit of urban development for greenfields land in the Tuggeranong valley. This development will provide for around 226 dwelling sites, which will be released progressively by the LDA over the remainder of this calendar year, and the civil works associated with that represent about a $7 million investment in contracting work, civil engineering and infrastructure work, which will make a significant investment in the local community, as well as providing for that very important new housing estate.
This comes on top of other work the government has commenced and undertaken since September last year to significantly release additional land supply. Between September and December last year we have released over 520 blocks to the market for development. Since the beginning of this calendar year, in addition to west Bonython we have released land at west Macgregor, and further releases are anticipated at Franklin, Forde and Wells Station. So a very significant land release program is in place now, of close to 2,000 dwelling sites, just for this financial year.
The Bonython release in particular will be of great interest to people looking to buy land in the Tuggeranong valley. It is closely located to the Tuggeranong town centre but has a magnificent outlook over the Murrumbidgee River corridor and also takes good advantage of existing public and private infrastructure, in particular the Stranger Pond at the back of Bonython, which provides for an excellent level of amenity.
The government will continue to undertake this very significant land release program, as well as continuing to look at a range of issues around affordability and implement measures that can help to address this challenge. The Chief Minister, as members would know, has been instrumental in pushing this particular policy development agenda. The work that is being undertaken by the Land Development Agency when it comes to land release is now over $60 million in value. We now have a civil construction program in place through the Land Development Agency which is delivering a program worth $60 million in terms of civil works currently under way in the ACT.
I was very pleased to be down at Bonython west today with Mr David Dawes from the Master Builders Association, who welcomed this significant level of investment by the ACT government in the civil construction sector. This is obviously very good news for the members he represents who perform civil construction work, and it is a very significant level of investment in the local economy by the ACT government, because we know that for every million dollars in civil construction works Mr Dawes
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