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Help on the way for Pemulwuy?

The Aboriginal Housing Company wants the State Government to waive $180,000 in fees for its Pemulwuy Project for The Block, as the cash-strapped company edges closer to exhibiting what it said is a model for affordable housing reports Ben Falkenmire in the South Sydney Herald of April 2008.

 

The Department of Planning said the fees have to be paid to ensure it can adequately assess and report on the submission.

Community group REDWatch believes if the government is serious about getting the project up and running it should waive the fee.

The AHC told the SSH the company is approaching break-even point for the first time in its 35-year history, and could not afford $180,000 in fees.

“We have resisted selling any land since the project started up nine years ago,” Mr Valilis said. “We are not making any money on this development. This is a community project. All our housing is affordable housing. We are doing the job for government. They can use our project as a model for other areas. We’re essentially saving them money.”

REDWatch’s Geoff Turnbull said the business community was tired of waiting for a project that has been on the drawing board for nine years.

“There is a general position held in the business community that they want to see the situation evolve,” Mr Turnbull said. “It’s crazy it has been allowed to drag on this long.”

The Department told the SSH exact fees for the Pemulwuy Project, with a construction value of around $50 million according to the AHC, will be determined when the AHC submits final capital investment figures.

“Such fees cover the Department's independent and thorough work assessing proposals, which includes ensuring the proposal is adequate for exhibition, consulting with other agencies, assessing the project and then producing an assessment report for decision,” a Department spokesperson said.

Mr Turnbull suggested the RWA make a grant to the AHC to "fast-track" the process.

“Here’s a project that supports the RWA’s objectives in terms of affordable housing and the Indigenous. I would expect them to be supporting it,” Mr Turnbull said.

In the 2007 financial year, the RWA outlaid $827,166 in grants to community organisations, with Kidspeak and Barnardos ($581,124), Mudgin-Gal ($70,000) and Centacare ($70,000) recipients of the largest funding amounts.

Mr Valilis said the concept plan for the Pemulwuy Project submitted to the Department in November last year would have cost them around $250,000 if it weren’t for the pro bono efforts of architect Peter Lonergan and others.

The RWA declined to comment.

Source: South Sydney Herald April 2008 - www.southsydneyherald.com.au