NSW Government go-slow strikes developer’s promise to build new road to western Sydney aerotropolis

A developer is willing to pay for a new road to the Western Sydney aerotropolis but can’t due to the planning process. Here’s why the company has labelled the project a “global embarrassment”.

The lack of progress on the western Sydney aerotropolis has become a “global embarrassment”, the chief executive of a major development firm trying to break ground at the site has said.

Inghams Property has offered to transform a rural back road at the new aerotropolis – the 11,200 hectare zone surrounding the airport and slated to be a jobs and housing hub – into a major freight route at its own expense. But that proposal has been sitting with bureaucrats for more than a year.

The company, which owns 180-hectares opposite the new airport, has been unable to proceed with their promise to revamp Badgerys Creek Road, with Transport NSW still working out what roads to build and upgrade just two years from the airport opening.

The road currently has just one lane in each direction but in 2026, when the airport opens, it’ll become a busy freight route to the east of the facility.

Ingham Property proposed in December 2022 to upgrade the road – including plans to turn it into a dual carriageway and adding safety upgrades to prevent it flooding – under a ‘works in kind’ proposal to the NSW Government.

Badgerys Creek Road. Picture: Google Maps

Works in kind agreements allow developers to pay directly for enabling infrastructure like roads and stormwater management – instead of paying development contributions to the government, which can result in the funding sitting unused for an extended time.

Ingham Property CEO Matthew Ramaley said the lack of progress at the aerotropolis was becoming a “global embarrassment”.

“We have been asking for this plan for over two years with little in the way of meaningful updates,” he said.

“While we wait, more high quality jobs are lost to other … states and overseas.”

Mr Ramaley said Ingham Property, like other major landowners, are ready to develop their own infrastructure at the aerotropolis, but claimed government planning processes were bogging work down.

Matthew Ramaley has criticised the go-slow nature of the aerotropolis. Picture: Renee Nowytarger / The Australian.

“These unresolved issues have become a point of global embarrassment when we court top tier investors who want to bring billions of dollars of investment to the aerotropolis,” he said.

“They get better enabling infrastructure certainty in Victoria and Queensland where the red carpet is rolled out to secure new jobs for the community.”

Badgerys Creek Road from above. Picture: Nearmap

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun – whose council supports the proposal – said “bureaucracy has to get out of the way and let jobs be created to improve the lives of people in south west Sydney”.

“If the developer wants to build it, let them build it,” he said of the proposal.

“Running around and doing business cases when we know it has to be done, (we should) just get it done – especially when it’s not going to cost tax payers.

“The airport is running on time, but the aerotropolis is way behind schedule – people are losing faith in what should be a once in a lifetime opportunity to improve the area.”

Liverpool City Mayor Ned Mannoun beside a Badgerys Creek sign adjacent to Badgerys Creek Park, ten years ago.

A Transport for NSW spokesman said it was still working on a business case to identify what investments had to be made to the road network around the precinct, with $613 million put towards infrastructure delivery in the aerotropolis in the 2023-24 budget.

An early render of what the aerotropolis was proposed to look like. Picture: Supplied

“Transport for NSW is carrying out a strategic business case to identify priorities for investment in the precinct, focusing on how to stage and sequence work to best cater for growth and travel demand,” he said.

“This work includes identifying needs along Badgerys Creek Road and takes into consideration planned and future development along the corridor as well as broader network considerations.”

Premier Chris Minns, when quizzed on the lack of progress on the project, said “there are clear funding gaps when it comes to Western Sydney Airport left by the previous government. That’s why the NSW Government has invested $615 million over five years in the current budget to deliver critical transport infrastructure to support the precinct.”

Inquiries to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese were again forwarded on to Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, with a spokeswoman for her repeating a statement forwarded to the Telegraph last week, including: “ The Australian Government has already said it would work with the State Government and the private sector to make sure all of the prospective activity from economic incubators like the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal and the Aerotropolis is up and running as soon as possible”.