It’s time to pay the ferryman

TASMANIAN businessman and Incat founder Robert Clifford has called for future planning on ferry transport to begin now — off the back of an announcement of a major new residential and commercial development proposed for Clarence.

The Mercury revealed yesterday that a 350ha parcel of land would be redeveloped into Clarence’s newest suburb. A Florida-based urban planning company has been engaged to oversee the masterplanning of the land, at Droughty Point, near Tranmere.

A partner at the leading American company, DPZ Co-Design, was in Hobart this week to meet with stakeholders to discuss plans for the site.

The project, which has been given the working title of “Skylands”,

will be planned and delivered over the next 20 years.

Greg Carr co-owns the land after his father bought the site in 1971. Clarence City Council is in the process of creating a structure plan for the area, which aims to manage residential growth and guide future development of the Tranmere, Droughty Point and Rokeby peninsula.

Mr Clifford said he hoped serious consideration would be given to public transport for the proposed development.

“[It’s] better to plan now for ferry services while the project is in its infancy,” he said.

“Eco-community residents would surely embrace ferry transport by an attractive eco-option of electric ferries running on batteries charged by clean hydro power. The future needs planning now.

“There are multiple ferry wharf locations that can make for a 10 to 15-minute connection to the city.

“All that is required is easy road access and connection to floating terminals.”

Last year, Mr Clifford outlined his vision for a River Derwent ferry network, with a two-boat, six-terminal operation that could be up and running for $20 million.

DPZ Co-Design partner Marina Khoury said the team had just begun to think about how public transport infrastructure could be integrated into the Droughty Point development — and she said ferries were a logical inclusion.

“This is a large area [greater Hobart] and to exclude the water as a means of transportation seems shortsighted,” she said.

“For water taxis, there needs to be destinations that can connect with for them to work.

“You need enough of a mass of people in an area to justify it.”

The potential establishment of the River Derwent service is part of the $1.6 billion Hobart City Deal, with $2 million of State Government funding currently assigned to the project.

In an implementation plan for the deal, released in October last year, a business case for the service was listed as being due to be completed by 2020-2021.

A State Government spokesman said the state’s growing economy had brought with it increased traffic and there was a demand for infrastructure for access to Hobart from the eastern shore.

“Developments such as these are evidence of both the strong economy and growing demand for infrastructure and services,” the spokesman said.

“As part of our election commitment, we are undertaking early planning for the Rokeby Stage 3 project, which involves road widening and a bypass on South Arm Rd between Rokeby and Lauderdale.

“The Government expects early planning to be completed towards the end of the year.”