Minister visits Geelong for City Deal update

THE federal government says it could have Geelong’s City Deal done within as little as two months, but is being cagey about the details.

Federal Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities Paul Fletcher visited Geelong on Tuesday for an update on the initiative, which will eventually involve commitments from all three levels of government.

This included a visit to the Geelong waterfront to see the proposed convention centre site and to Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus to discuss a potential new inclusion – a link road for the Future Economy Precinct at the campus.

The Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities predicted in late May that Geelong’s City Deal would be done by September or October.

Speaking exclusively with this newspaper, Mr Fletcher said he thought this was “probably a reasonable estimate”.

“We’re continuing to work through it; we’ll take the time we need to get it right.”

There is growing consensus about what projects will be part of the final deal – the convention centre is frequently cited – but not everything in it will be fully funded.

“I think it’s fair to say there’s a good range of ideas that have come forward. What we need to do is start to work through those ideas and work up the elements of what the initiatives are going to be,” Mr Fletcher said, adding that City Deals were typically entered into over a period of 10 to 20 years.

Corangamite federal member Sarah Henderson said the deal would contain a mix of projects to be built now as well as “aspirational projects” to be built later, but neither she nor Mr Fletcher were prepared to give examples from either category.

“I think it’s a bit premature to be making that assessment,” Mr Fletcher said.

In its 2018/19 budget, the state committed $153 million towards three City Deal projects – the convention centre, the Shipwreck Coast Master Plan, and central Geelong revitalisation works – but the federal government has yet to explicitly match this figure.

Ms Henderson said the federal government had already made significant contributions towards Geelong’s rail infrastructure, which would be part of the final City Deal.