02 April 2009
The Urban Taskforce welcomed the first phase of the NSW governments response to the Jobs Summit today, but said the most important announcements were yet to come.
Last years state budget promised the rapid rezoning of 11,000 hectares of rural land in Western Sydney to support $2 billion in new job-creating development, Mr Gadiel said.
We hope the foreshadowed initiative will deliver on this commitment.
The government also said it would announce, within a few months, another rapid rezoning process for Strategic Centres.
This is a positive step, but we need to see more detail, Mr Gadiel said.
There is an urgent need to rapidly rezone land in centres and corridors to implement the governments 2005 Metropolitan Strategy and the more recent State Plan.
However, its not clear to us why any rapid rezoning process should be limited to Strategic Centres.
The Strategic Centres include areas such as Sydney City, North Sydney, Parramatta, Liverpool, Penrith, Macquarie Park, St Leonards, Bankstown, Blacktown and Bondi Junction. They exclude areas such as Ashfield, Leichhardt, Coogee, Rose Bay, Granville, Merrylands, Auburn and Bonnyrigg.
All centres and corridors based around good transport infrastructure should be included in any rapid rezoning process, Mr Gadiel said.
Mr Gadiel said its good to hear that an audit of major projects is underway and that the government will identify and respond to any delays.
NSW cant afford to have a single project held up in any more red tape.
For every $1 million in construction expenditure, 27 jobs are created throughout the broader economy.
Mr Gadiel also welcomed the commitment to make the NSW planning system Australias most effective system.
Were very pleased at this preliminary response to the Jobs Summit and were eager to study the detail once it becomes available, Mr Gadiel said.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
The construction activity made possible by property developers contributes $69 billion to the national economy each year and creates 709,000 direct jobs. The construction industry is Australias third largest source of employment.
