Auditor-General to probe Qld Government’s $60.5m Coomera Connector land resumption at The Surrounds Helensvale
Queensland’s Auditor-General is probing why the State took four years to resume land at Helensvale it knew was needed for the Coomera Connector – a delay which saw the price treble for taxpayers.
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QUEENSLAND’S Audit Office is probing why the State Government took four years to resume land at Helensvale it knew was needed for the Coomera Connector – a delay which saw the price of the land treble for taxpayers.
Chatsworth MP Steve Minnikin wrote to the Auditor-General earlier this month, after the Gold Coast Bulletin revealed the government had spent $60.5m resuming four parcels of land on Country Club Dr, now called Buckler Dr, in August.
The properties had cost developer Villawood $20.5m in 2018 and 2019.
The latest $60.5m payout is more than half the $115m budgeted for the Coomera Connector this financial year.
In his letter to Auditor-General Brendan Worrall, Mr Minnikin noted that the section of new highway between Nerang and Coomera was formally declared a state-controlled road in 2016.
“Questions must be asked as to why TMR did not secure the properties when they were previously on the market,” he wrote.
“It is unknown if this will impact the overall budget.
“Governments have a responsibility to spend every dollar of taxpayers’ money wisely.”
Mr Minnikin asked for a review of the department’s planning for the projects and for “recommendations where the department’s land acquisition processes can be improved to avoid further wasting of taxpayer funds”.
Mr Worrall said he would “make preliminary inquiries” of the department “to understand its acquisition processes for these four parcels of land”.
The four-parcel August purchase followed another by the department in September 2019, when it bought a row of 25 house blocks on Citron Cres for $13.97m, adding up to $74m being paid to the developer by taxpayers.
The government has not specifically answered Bulletin questions on when it first took action to resume the land, why it was not resumed until 2021, how the value of the resumed land was calculated or about how many further resumptions would be needed for the road.
Villawood unsuccessfully lobbied to change the route of the connector, which skirts its estate The Surrounds, before selling the land to the government in August.
The Auditor-General declined to conduct a review of the full project’s planning as his office was already working on a large number of infrastructure-related audits.
Earlier, September 11
A DEVELOPER that received $60.5m of taxpayers’ money for land along the Coomera Connector had unsuccessfully lobbied for the highway’s route to be changed.
After it was denied, they sold the land to the government for a $40m profit in just three years.
The government on Friday did not specifically answer Bulletin questions on why it took so long to buy the property.
This week it was revealed the government had resumed 19.134ha owned by Villawood, developer of The Surrounds, in a sale that cost taxpayers $60.5m.
It followed an earlier payout of $13.75m to Villawood in 2019, made for a row of 25 house blocks on Citron Cres.
The road, gazetted by the government in 2016, snakes its way along the full length of the estate. It has been marketed by Villawood as a ”green haven”, opposite the Helensvale light and heavy rail stations.
The land on Buckler Dr, formerly Country Club Dr, was earmarked for high-density, public transport-centric housing and villas, medium-density apartments up to 10 storeys, as well as a mix of retirement and aged-care facilities.
Villawood was not in favour of the road’s position, and made its opposition known to the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR).
“Villawood requested that TMR sought alternate routes but none were provided,” the developer told the Bulletin.
“Villawood lobbied TMR for the road to not go ahead and were not successful.”
Property records show Villawood bought the land from long-time owners the Buckler family in 2018 and 2019 for a total of $20.5m.
After being gazetted in 2016, the location of the road was extended and re-gazetted in 2017 and 2019, with government maps clearly identifying the properties on Country Club Dr, now known as Buckler Dr, that would need to be acquired.
The developer could not say when the government first took action to acquire the land due to “confidentiality obligations”.
Although it did not take ownership of the resumed properties until 2018 and 2019, Villawood said it had held a “fully binding purchase agreement” for the land since 2014, before the road was gazetted.
A statement from the department did not answer questions on when it first took action to resume the land, why it was not resumed until 2021, how the value of the resumed land was calculated or about how many further resumptions would be needed for the road.
“TMR continues to liaise directly with all affected landowners for Coomera Connector Stage 1,” the statement said.
The department’s response spoke generally about the process of gazetting land and about an “early acquisition” process, whereby landowners and the government could negotiate a sale using land valuations, based on market value.
On further questioning, the department said the recent resumptions at Buckler Dr had been completed under this process.
The department said “additional land” on Buckler Dr was identified during planning which would improve the design and save money, for example by “removing the need for some retaining walls and other high-cost drainage structures”.
Questions to Transport Minister Mark Bailey, who was unavailable, were answered via email from a Palaszczuk government spokesperson.
“The second M1 will be one of the largest road projects in Queensland’s history, so acquiring land is necessary,” the email said.
“The Palaszczuk Labor government committed at the election to building Stage 1 of the second M1 this term and that’s exactly what we’re doing.
“There is significant support among Gold Coast residents to get it built so we can take pressure off the M1, and that’s why the Palaszczuk government is getting on with the job.”
The first stage of the second M1, between Nerang-Broadbeach Rd at Nerang and Shipper Drive at Coomera, is expected to take up to 60,000 vehicles off the Pacific Motorway, reducing congestion and increasing road safety.
The state and federal governments have each committed half of the $1.53bn cost of the first stage.
Early geotechnical survey works have been completed on the northern section between Shipper Drive and Helensvale Road and are now under way in the central section between Helensvale Road and the Smith Street Motorway.
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