City Deal can’t be the only cash, Committee for Geelong says

THE first of the tranche of projects in Geelong’s City Deal has just gone to tender, but the Committee for Geelong (CfG) hopes the $370 million list is not all that the Geelong region will get over the next decade.

Last week, CfG and G21 hosted an exclusive forum for their members to outline the recently-announced implementation plan for the Geelong City Deal.

Held at Deakin University’s Waterfront Campus, the forum featured presentations from City Deals general manager Janet Quigley from the federal Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development; Regional Development Victoria acting regional director for Barwon and the South West Kerri Erler; and City of Greater Geelong director of investment and attraction Brett Luxford.

A three-way deal between local, state and federal governments, there are more than a dozen commitments in Geelong’s City Deal with about 30 separate elements.

At the meeting, Ms Quigley revealed one of these commitments, the $16 million redevelopment of the Queenscliff Ferry Terminal, would go to tender the next day (November 8), with construction expected to start on site in April 2020.

During a Q&A session facilitated by G21 chief executive officer Elaine Carbines following the presentations, CfG chair Dan Simmonds questioned why the City Deal had a specific timeline of 10 years.

He also said CfG expected that Geelong would still get allocations and grants for projects as part of ongoing cyclical funding to cope with growth, especially if the City Deal were to be extended.

“The City Deal was the icing on the cake.

“If Victoria’s growing at an average of 1.7 per cent, and that’s what all the planning’s been done around, but in fact we’re growing at 2.7 per cent now and probably going to go to 4 per cent or something like that. We need funding well outside the bounds of what might be in a City Deal at all levels to drive infrastructure.”

Ms Carbines said she did not share that concern, as the Geelong region had received nearly $4 billion in public money over the past 18 months to two years, including $370 million for the City Deal.

Ms Quigley said Geelong’s City Deal would be formally reviewed after three years.

“I think we want to try to avoid this concept that we might be opening it up on a very regular basis.”

To read the full implementation plan, head to infrastructure.gov.au/cities/city-deals/geelong.