Funding Doubts On West Dapto Bridge

Illawarra Mercury

Tuesday April 4, 2006

By ANTONY FIELD

WOLLONGONG councillors will publicly exhibit plans for the city's largest residential land release at West Dapto but the funding and construction of the Fowlers Rd overpass remain major stumbling blocks.

The councillors last night agreed to endorse a range of documents detailing how 19,000 homes will be built at West Dapto, adding another 55,000 people over 40 years.

It includes a master plan, a proposal to fund $1.2 billion of infrastructure, an environmental study and a preferred option of a taskforce made up of local and state government staff to manage the land release.

Ward 5 councillor Frank Gigliotti said West Dapto had been on the agenda for 20 years and acknowledged the work of council planners David Green and Michael Malone.

"It's great to see it finally get to the stage where we can go to public exhibition with a master plan. It will be great to get comments from the residents of Dapto but not only them - this is a city-wide thing," he said.

Fellow ward councillor Tony Kent said he liked the idea of staging the development and that the area was planned as a whole.

"I don't think Dapto residents realise the size of this until they really get into it. We might be talking about another nine primary schools," he said.

The councillors accepted Cr Gigliotti's request that the $28 million Fowlers Rd overbridge be the highest priority and be completed as part of stage one.

But his demand that design work start immediately and letters be sent to the State Government requesting funding, as supported by fellow ALP councillors, was rejected.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Alex Darling used his casting vote to support the independents, who asked for an urgent report identifying funding for the design work.

Cr Kent said the staging plan put the Fowlers Rd bridge on the backburner until stage three, which could take 30 or 40 years.

"Residents bought blocks of land at Horsley thinking the bridge was not far off. There's not one resident in Horsley who's not jumping up and down about this."

Cr Gigliotti said the council was irresponsible for not having built the bridge 20 years ago.

© 2006 Illawarra Mercury

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