Airport to be a big plus for the west

As the Daily Telegraph's Future Western Sydney campaign has highlighted, Western Sydney is an economic powerhouse.

This means the future of Western Sydney is the future of Sydney too, which is why the Morrison and Perrottet governments are investing over $25 billion for projects in Western Sydney. The centerpiece of this investment is of course our federally funded Western Sydney International (Nancy Bird-Walton) Airport.

In the 2017 budget, we announced $5.3 billion of funding for this project - and already construction is approaching 30 per cent complete. This will be a world class airport with a runway of 3.7 kilometres, long enough for the largest passenger aircraft, and a bold and striking terminal design which reflects the confidence and aspirations of Western Sydney.

The airport is on track to open by late 2026, with an initial operational capacity for around 10 million domestic and international passengers a year, as well as freight traffic.

But rather than just building an airport, the Morrison and Perrottet governments are delivering on an integrated and coordinated plan to leverage the economic impact of the airport to attract businesses, generate jobs and create the third city in the Sydney basin.

The new Western Parkland City will complement the harbour city and the central river city and will be a great place to live, work and do business.

As the airport attracts airlines and passengers, it will generate large numbers of jobs: an estimated 28,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2031. To build a new city requires detailed planning. The Western Parkland City Authority is leading this work, with land use planning for some 12,000 hectares.

The centrepiece will be the new ‘aerotropolis' being built just south of the airport, with a rail station and including business headquarters, university and vocational education facilities and many other types of tenants.

Through the Western Sydney City Deal, the Commonwealth and NSW governments have joined with eight western Sydney councils.

The three levels of government are working together to capitalise on this unprecedented infrastructure investment in Western Sydney, and to maximise the economic and social benefits that it creates.

There are close to 40 individual initiatives being pursued under the City Deal. Whether it's the new Western Sydney Airport emerging from the rolling hills, the four lane Northern Road, the several stages of WestConnex already delivered or many other infrastructure projects, the results of that spending are already plain to see - and there is much more yet to come.

This article appeared in The Daily Telegraph on 18 March 2022