Future West: Chris Minns considering new government agency to rescue stalled western Sydney aerotropolis

The blighted jobs hub around the new Western Sydney airport could be in line for a major shake-up, with behind closed doors discussions to rescue the “once in a lifetime” opportunity.

Premier Chris Minns is considering an urgent rescue mission to kickstart the stalled aerotropolis with a new agency to be tasked with getting the giant precinct back on track.

The move comes as the chief executive of Western Sydney International Airport – one of the few projects actually being built and on time – urged bureaucrats not to miss the “real opportunity” to build a high tech jobs hub for Sydney.

Business leaders have already dubbed the much vaunted Bradfield City Centre the AeroFLOPolis because the Western Parkland City Authority (WPCA) responsible for building it has only managed to start work on a visitor centre and run a competition to design a park.

But while the WPCA is only tasked with delivering the Bradfield City Centre, the wider 11,200 hectare aerotropolis surrounding the airport is also languishing – with growing concerns it will never get off the ground without a similar body to co-ordinate roads, sewage and water links.

Pictured at the site of the new Western Sydney International Airport at Badgerys Creek is CEO of Western Sydney International Airport Simon Hickey. Behind Mr Hickey is the view north with the main airport runway running south to north. Picture: Richard Dobson

Western Sydney Airport’s chief executive Simon Hickey said bureaucrats needed “focus and attention” to avoid missing a once in a lifetime jobs opportunity that came from having a second purpose built airport opening in Sydney.

The Western Sydney International Airport is on target with the roof now going on the terminal and flights due to start in 2026 but it is surrounded by green fields that should be new businesses aimed at capitalising on the airport’s connectivity with Australia and the world.

“This is a real opportunity to grow new industry and new business in Western Sydney,” Mr Hickey said. “But it requires a focus and attention on getting the job done.”

He said the current green field sites around the airport that have resulted in advanced space and agri-tech businesses signing memorandums of understanding to move in need to be developed urgently.

“We really have an opportunity to get new jobs and new opportunities for people in Western Sydney in fields such as space and agri business,” he said.

The construction of the new airport has passed the halfway point. Airfield construction is due to be completed in 2024, while terminal construction is due to be completed in 2025, prior to the commencement of major airport testing and commissioning. Photo: Supplied

“What we need to focus on here in Western Sydney are these new businesses in industries for the next 100 years.”

A spokesman for the NSW Government told The Daily Telegraph it was not ruling out bringing in a new delivery authority to co-ordinate the massive precinct around Bradfield and the airport.

“The NSW Government inherited a planning and infrastructure mess at the Western Sydney Aerotropolis and surrounding industrial precincts,” he said.

“The Government inherited no clear path to phase enabling infrastructure and billions of dollars of critical infrastructure was left unfunded by the former government.”

The Telegraph understands discussions behind closed doors are currently underway within government, although the government is cautious of adding more executives and bureaucrats to the planning system.

If a new body is formed, they want it to have genuine breakthrough ability to get the aerotropolis moving.

Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest welcomed the move for a new overarching agency to deliver the precinct and said the current vision was based “on a hope and a prayer” and lacked the necessary infrastructure to be delivered.

“The roads and water we need desperately to create the vision that was promised around employment around the new airport have been sadly lacking,” Mr Forrest said.

Premier Chris Minns is believed to be mulling over a new body to hasten delivery of the aerotropolis. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

“The Western Parkland City Authority should be renamed the Bradfield delivery authority and they can do Bradfield, then we need a second authority to properly deliver western Sydney aerotropolis.”

Adrian Arnaudon, development director at Allams Property Group which has interests around the perimeter of the aerotropolis, warned the “aerotropolis is a once in a lifetime opportunity and it could fall flat on its face – and it is at the moment”.

“A delivery body with key deliverables would be able to get that infrastructure in on the ground and quickly,” he said.

“I think people view it from a development perspective that it could turn into a white elephant. People are shying away from wanting to commit to it, and it’s a one in a lifetime opportunity.”

The Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Gavin Melvin said no one government department was “grabbing this by the scruff of the neck and delivering”.

“(The government) can’t get co-ordination on roads and water, sewage and stormwater … and until they can, (industry) can’t get onto commencing and developing.”

Missteps so far include global delivery giant Amazon pulling out of discussions to lease a warehouse in the aerotropolis due to the slow speed of development, while developer Inghams Property proposal to fund an upgrade to Badgerys Creek Road has sat with bureaucrats for more than a year.

Almost 40 businesses including powerhouse companies Siemens, BAE Systems, Hitachi and Mitsubishi have also signed Memorandums of Understanding with the NSW Government to be part of the precinct – but are growing increasingly concerned over a lack of action.

A WPCA spokeswoman said “there is significant momentum underway at Bradfield City Centre, with the first stage of the city on track to open alongside the Western Sydney International Airport in 2026”.

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