Aerotropolis agency spent $4.5m on consultants, took 11 overseas trip to “deliver visitor’s centre”

The agency delivering Sydney’s third CBD has spent $4.5m on consultants, with staff taking several overseas trips, with just “a visitor’s centre to show for it”.

A government agency tasked with delivering Sydney’s third CBD has spent more than $4.5m on consultants and senior staff made 11 overseas trip between 2019 to 2023, with just one building now under construction.

The agency, the Western Parkland City Authority (WPCA), oversees the development of the Bradfield City Centre and the 11,200-hectare Aerotropolis which will surround the Western Sydney International Airport once it opens in late-2026.

However, according to the December community update, initial construction has only begun on the First Building – which will host a visitor centre, industry hub and manufacturing research facility.

Current work has included initiating construction on the First Building at what will become the Bradfield City Centre. Picture: WPCA

Annual reports dating back to the 2018-19 financial year revealed a glaring $4.5m spend on consultants and a multitude of international trips taken by staff.

Between 2018 to June, 13 senior staff from the WPCA spent a totally of 78 days on multi-day international visits to Taipei, Japan, Israel, South Korea, and Germany, France and the UK.

The trips were explained as meeting with industry partners and multinational firms interested in investing in the precinct.

Six of the 11 trips were to Japan where senior executives to meet with Japanese foundation partners, despite only six of the 37 industry partners being listed as being based in Japan.

The most recent trip was a five-day trip taken to Taiwan’s capital Taipei by executive director Ben Kitcher “to find investment partners in semiconductor work” and partners for the Bradfield City Centre’s innovation hub, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility (AMRF).

The WPCA was created under former premier Gladys Berejiklian. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dylan Coker

A four-day trade delegation was also taken by the agency’s chair and chief executive in August 2022 to Japan, where they conducted nine meetings with “senior leaders of large multinational firms interested in investment and development of the region for finding investment”.

Non-executive board member Gabrielle Trainor also attended a seven-day trade delegation to Israel with a group of Western Sydney organisations, where she met with companies, universities and government agencies “involved in the innovation ecosystem”.

Annual reports also revealed the WPCA also awarded nearly $4.6m to consultants across five financial years between 2018-19, to 2022-23.

The biggest year for consultancy spend was in the 2022-23 financial year, with 11 projects totalling to $1,336,719.78, and closely followed by the 2019-20 financial year where $1,359,490,000 of taxpayer dollars was spent on three projects.

This included a project worth more than $600,000, that was awarded to Deloitte for a feasibility study into the creation of a global freight and logistics operation through the Integrated Logistics Hub (ILH) and a concept study on the aeroport.

More than $520,000 was also given to PwC to conduct an aviation, space and defence strategy.

An artist’s rendering of the Aerotropolis. Picture: Supplied

Tom Forrest, head of property developers group Urban Taskforce, said there had been a failure to co-ordinate the delivery of roads and water infrastructure, describing the project as an “expensive waste of money”.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars spent and only a visitor’s centre to show for it,” he said.

“The finances allocated to the WPCA board and 44 senior executives should be used to improve planning assessment performance.”

On Wednesday, Premier Chris Minns reiterated similar concerns related to the double-handling due to overlapping government agencies and offices.

He said that was why he had made the decision in June last year to incorporate the WPCA into the Department of Planning, creating a “one-stop shop” for “planning approvals, communication, stakeholder engagement and growth associated with land use”.

A WPCA spokesperson wouldn’t comment further on the overseas trips or the spend on consultants, but said the project for the Bradfield City Centre would complete its first stage in 2026.

“Over $20bn of infrastructure is being delivered through the Western Sydney City Deal, including new roads, services, a Metro rail and an international airport,” they said.

“Stage one of Bradfield City Centre is on track to open alongside the Western Sydney International Airport in 2026.”

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said both the state and federal governments were committed to delivering the Aerotropolis vision.

“Inevitably when you have planning, it goes slower at the first stages to put it in place and once those planning measures and approvals are in place you will see very positive developments,” he said.

“We will work with the state government and work with the private sector to make sure that all of the prospective activity is up and running as soon as possible.”

The new development will coincide with the development of the Western Sydney International Airport, slated to open in late-2026. Picture: Supplied

However handing down the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook in December, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the federal government’s decision to cut joint infrastructure funding had put the state’s ability to “realise the vision of the Western Sydney Airport” at risk.

“We still want to realise that vision but I have to be upfront with the people of NSW,” he said

“The federal government’s decisions to pull money from NSW means they need to take a greater share of meeting the costs of building the Western Sydney Airport because that is their airport on their land.”