The timeline for developing Fishermans Bend – a key precinct for building new housing in Melbourne – has blown out by at least five years, an investigation by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office having uncovered major planning delays.
The audit has revealed that the state agencies managing development at Australia’s largest urban renewal project are not on track more than a decade after the former industrial area was controversially rezoned by Liberal then-planning minister Matthew Guy.
After its election in 2014, the Labor government pledged to “fix” Fishermans Bend and deliver new schools, public transport and walking and cycling links, as well as housing.
“Agencies are not on track to deliver all projects and outcomes,” the audit found. “Delivery of the framework has been extended by at least five years to 2055.”
The audit found many key planning documents are still in the draft stage or yet to be completed six years after a 2018 masterplan for the area that envisaged 80,000 people living on the 480-hectare peninsula by 2050 and the area hosting 80,000 jobs.
This included a mooted tramline and a bridge that would connect the CBD to Fishermans Bend by this year which still does not have a full approved business case. The project was meant to be delivered some time between 2020 and 2025, and the 2021-22 state budget allocated $15 million to progress planning work for the tram.
“The tramline to Fishermans Bend has taken a considerable amount of time to plan, and its level of priority as a key transport project for Fishermans Bend remains unclear,” the audit found.
A bike lane connecting the suburb to the CBD, which was supposed to be completed between 2020 and 2025, has been delayed by nine years, taking the expected completion date from 2034 to 2045.
The Age
