The ACT Government took another step yesterday in its policy of taking back land development from the private sector.
It called for expressions of interest from developers interested in taking part in joint ventures in which the Government would have a far greater say than previous joint ventures or previous purely private land development.
The Minister for Environment, Land and Planning said in a statement that the new joint ventures would be for 630 dwellings in West Belconnen.
Land in Canberra was developed by the Federal Government from the founding of the city until 1988 when the Federal Government completed its handover to the private sector. The private sector then developed very large multi-million dollar tracts and had control of the sale of the blocks.
Since then there has been a debate between the private developers, who say they work more competitively and efficiently and provide better choice and better prices, and Labor MLAs and some community groups and individuals who have argued there are too few (three) private developers for effective competition and that they have integrated their broad-acre land development with builders and real-estate agencies to cause a vertical monopoly which increases profits and land prices.
More than a year ago, Mr Wood promised that he would “”return to the days of the Albert Hall auction” where individuals could buy a single block and builders could buy one or several blocks.
Small and medium builders have lobbied the Government intensively for a return to development whereby they can buy smaller parcels.
The new joint ventures would be with smaller scale companies. Mr Wood said they “”are a step towards restoring land development responsibility to the public sector”.
David Lamont (Lab) said yesterday that in sensitive urban renewal areas the Government wanted to be the sole participant in land redevelopment (carving the blocks and providing electricity, water, sewerage, roads and paths).
“”The Government wants to ensure a greater variety of land packages are available and to ensure these sensitive projects can be handled sensitively by the Government,” he said.
With the Government as the prime contractor it would be able to determine the results it wanted and it would be responsive to issues raised by such groups as the Watson Community Association with the North Watson development.
Mr Wood said, “”Joint ventures also provide an opportunity for the Government to meet a wide range of objectives and initiatives in land development; such as ensuring that community interests are dealt with sensitively due to greater Government input in all stages of the development, including planning and servicing the land and the release of individual blocks for sale.”