Parramatta Council ‘wastes’ $15m on abandoned, stalled projects

A western Sydney council has “wasted” a staggering $15 million of ratepayers’ money on projects which have either been abandoned or stalled.

The pool design for the Parramatta Aquatic Centre that was dropped. The design, completed by FJMT STUDIO, for the $64,960,000 pool was rejected and the State Government has taken over construction, committing to a $30m pool by late 2020.

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Parramatta Council has been slammed for “wasting” a staggering $15 million of ratepayers’ money on projects which have either been abandoned or stalled.

The Advertiser can exclusively reveal the council spent $2.45 million on a business case and project costs for a new pool, before it walked away from plans in October last year and left it to the State Government to build.

This figure is a mere fraction of the $12.49 million it has forked out on consultants and overheads such as “community engagement” for a proposed upgrade of the town hall, which is in limbo as councillors call for new designs to reduce the cost of the latest $147 million plan.

Holding pattern: The town hall in Parramatta’s Centenary Square.

A source who lifted the lid on the “money for nothing” hit to ratepayers, accused the council of “financial mismanagement on a gross scale”.

“We’ve spent over $12 million of ratepayers’ money (on the town hall upgrade) and we still don’t even have an approved concept to proceed with a development,” the source said.

In relation to costs for the now-defunct pool plan, the source said: “It is ratepayers’ money completely wasted.

“The business case, put together to get State Government funding, has gone nowhere because we are not involved in the project now.”

Parramatta state Liberal MP Geoff Lee was shocked when told of the massive planning costs and vowed to bring the revelations to the attention of new ministers John Sidoti (Sport) and Shelley Hancock (Local Government).

Parramatta State MP Geoff Lee.

“This is an incredible amount of ratepayers’ money to spend and then suddenly decide to abandon the pool project,” said Mr Lee, who has committed the government to building the new pool by December 2020.

Lord Mayor Andrew Wilson declined to comment on the matter, but a council spokeswoman said it was “committed to delivering world-class civic and community facilities”.