A peak western Sydney business organisation is optimistic for the region’s future with a myriad of major constructions in the pipeline. Alison Mills reports there’s acknowledgement that construction will cause disruption, but it will be worth it for the growth to follow.
"There's really no doubt there's a development boom in western Sydney at the moment — something's really clicked and there's this feverish and pent-up demand, an upward push," says the western Sydney director of the Sydney Business Chamber, David Borger.
The former Parramatta lord mayor and Granville MP, who held portfolios including western Sydney, transport and roads in the previous Labor government, is also an urban planner.
He says we can look no further than the "crane index", a tally of the number of cranes operating in major capital cities and environs, for tangible evidence of a boom.
"There are about 13 large construction cranes in the Parramatta CBD alone at the moment and a lot in Liverpool and also Penrith."
Borger believes the most important legacy of this boom must be its lasting and positive impact on local employment, once construction is finished.
He says procurement, the acquisition of goods and services, must be a priority during the next decade of building to ensure businesses based in the region get a look-in on major projects, like the $900 million redevelopment of Westmead Hospital, for one. And there's great potential for growth in "smart jobs" in areas like medical research.
Such "huge investment" should guarantee businesses involved in medical services will do well in the next few years.
Mr Borger also says while manufacturing is struggling, this isn't the case in food manufacturing, agribusiness and urban farming, where the region will benefit from opportunities to sell into burgeoning Asian markets.
Tourism, a sector not usually associated with western Sydney, is one with potential to boost local economies, citing talk of establishing a holiday park within Western Sydney Parklands.
But in the short- to medium-term, local retailers in development zones will probably suffer the most with disruption and compulsory acquisitions of land.
But Mr Borger says it's too early to predict which businesses will be affected.
And like it or not, the only way to go in the future will be up, not out, if we are to house people where they need to be, near services and employment. "In the long-term I see a rise in values and some people may be pushed out of the CBD, for example now in Parramatta, with high-rise [the planned 90-storey Aspire retail/residential tower] in the middle of Church Street. The backblocks won't change a lot if they're not close to public transport or at the edge of a CBD."