Perth Voice Interactive

GETTING the private sector to shell out for light rail could be a good way to get it up and running, says Curtin uni researcher Jemma Green.

Recently elected to Perth city council (but chatting to us wearing her sustainable policy institute researcher hat), Ms Green and boss Peter Newman met with new federal cities minister Jamie Briggs recently, after PM Malcolm Turnbull said he was keen on seeing a light rail plan for Perth.

Mr Briggs agreed with the notion that letting developers build light rail in return for accessing state-owned land near stations would be ideal for Perth.

Ms Green says under this method, known as active land value capture, “the government actually doesn’t pretedermine the route for the light rail, the private sector does”. There’s very little taxpayer cost compared to the big upfront infrastructure bills under the traditional model.

“The private sector is given the land, and the yields on the land provide commercial incentive to do the development,” Ms Green says.

“The stations can be developed as urban village centres which include residential, retail and commercial.”

Compulsory acquisition

Some land along the route would already be owned by the government, and some might require compulsory acquisition, but either way the private sector would be looking for a route that pays off and the government would pick one that delivers the best rail service and the most urban renewal.

“It’s been done successfully on the Canada Line in Vancouver and is presently being done on the East Valley Line in Edmonton,” Ms Green says.

“It is a model that can certainly work in the Australian context, but is counter to how we’ve approached infrastructure until now, so it will require change in mindset and innovation to make it happen.

“The federal and state governments need to invite expressions of interest from the private sector to see who would be willing to do this, and conversations we have been having at Curtin with the private sector suggest there would be strong interest.”

For planning buffs like Ms Green, the existence of a minister for cities is a big deal.

“The reappointment of the cities ministry at the federal level is crucial to Australia’s economic development. Cities are where the bulk of our economic activity takes place and cities now compete nationally and internationally on attracting the best jobs and people.”

by DAVID BELL