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Category: Government and Politics / Community and Society / Road Transport / Rail Transport

NSW Government to release land acquisition report findings two years later

Tuesday, 23 Aug 2016 17:58:03 | Lucy McNally

An artist's impression of the WestConnex project on Parramatta Road. (WestConnex delivery Authority)

The NSW Government has promised to release recommendations on how to make compulsory land acquisitions fairer for home owners, two years after receiving the report.

The State Government received the report in 2014, with recommendations that would have had implications for Sydneysiders whose homes are being acquired for projects such as Westconnex and Sydney light rail.

That report has still not been released, but the State Opposition has received a letter dated December 2015, where Finance Minister Dominic Perrottet wrote to the Premier advising not to act on the report.

The letter read: "The key concern of agencies, such as roads and maritime services, is that a number of the recommendations would likely have adverse impacts including increased disputation, valuation complexity, additional costs and delay to the completion of infrastructure projects."

"On this basis, I recommend that at this time no further action be taken to address the review report."

The Opposition's roads spokeswoman Jody McKay said the NSW Government deliberately sat on the report.

"Instead of making the lives of thousands of people easier, Mike Baird has decided to hide behind fake apologies and insincere empathy," she said.

Mr Perrottet admitted he wrote the letter, but said he followed it up with another one.

"Over Christmas, the community concern over this issue became more apparent to me," Mr Perrottet said.

"So early in the new year I wrote again to the Premier advising that additional reforms should be considered to provide certainty to landowners and government agencies."

The Minister said those reforms were being worked on, and he promised to release the report shortly.

AustraliaPlus


 

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