14/04/2000

The record booming housing and commercial development of the western suburbs of Melbourne, which is Australia’s premier transport hub, has placed a high priority for an urgent review of the region's economic, social and infrastructure capacity.

Speaking on the eve of the Western Melbourne Opportunity Summit with the theme 'Making the Difference', the Chairman of the Western Melbourne Regional Economic Development Organisation, Mr Alan Castleman said "there is an urgent need to review the regional planning of the region to ensure an upgraded planning process to maximise opportunities."

Mr Castleman said that whilst all transport links led to the West and this is a major catalyst for business success it also brought with it a responsibility from Governments to ensure adequate funding is available for maintenance of roads, other infrastructure and for regional planning.

The western region of Melbourne has a population of 550,000 people with a predicted growth of 18% by 2011. The City of Wyndham's population is expected to grow by 63%. The Port of Melbourne handles 39% of Australia’s container trade, 18.6 million tonnes worth more than $5.4 billion.

There are more than 154,130 aircraft movements at Melbourne Airport with 14.2 million passengers and Melbourne Airport handles 26% of Australia’s air freight exports. More than 300,000 container movements take place on freight trains each year at the Dynon Freight Terminal in Footscray.

Mr Castleman said that the boom in development in the western region required special planning attention to ensure a quality environment is created for both new and refurbished areas of the region.

“I believe there is a need for a continuing working taskforce with representatives from local government, private industry and the Department of Infrastructure. For any region to maximise its opportunities there needs to be ongoing interaction and implementation of programs at all levels of government with the private sector.”

“The focus of such an effort should be a rolling three year plan which is under constant review,” Mr Castleman said.

Media Enquiries:
Alan Castleman Chairman WREDO (03) 96880343
Ron Smith Corporate Media Communications (03) 98185700