PUT HORSE BEFORE CART

A CANDIDATE’S call for the model for funding residential development infrastructure to be turned on its head is something of a breath of fresh air.

Few in the northern part of the city will argue with Division 1 council hopeful Mark Hammel’s assessment of the problems in his region. He lists long delays in getting projects under way to fix headaches such as Yawalpah Rd, and a “patchwork” approach that fails to require developers to pay to connect necessary infrastructure connecting neighbouring developments.

People living in the rapidly growing area around Pimpama know only too well the nightmare of trying to take their kids to school or to travel to work at morning peak hour, battling to escape the single-lane gridlock to get from A to B in their area – some commuters have taken 23 minutes to crawl 150 metres – or to access the already congested M1.

Then there are the problems of just travelling down the road to a neighbouring subdivision or to reach the shops. Indeed it was only last month that a bridge built in 1993, left unused yet a vital link spanning the railway line and linking the Pimpama City shopping centre and the Gainsborough Greens estate, was finally sealed and opened for traffic. Ridiculous. In that instance, the bridge was owned by Queensland Rail and the fight to use it to alleviate traffic snarls had to be taken up with the State Government.

Having a candidate identify problems is nothing new. In Australia today, political discourse has been bogged down as individuals or parties – particularly at state and federal level – have engaged in the adversarial politics of negativity, howling about what is wrong while in opposition but not actually demonstrating too much in the way of meaningful solutions.

In that regard, Mr Hammel has offered his view on how the infrastructure problem should be addressed. He wants the city to access low-interest loans to build the infrastructure upfront, with funding to be reimbursed through charges to developers.

And he wants developers to pay for infrastructure connection between neighbouring projects.

His call might raise eyebrows with some, but it will also gain support, including in the development industry where participants recognise the problems.

Lack of infrastructure is a brake on residential areas becoming havens offering superior quality of life and services, which has an impact on the city’s prosperty. The Bulletin has long argued for all governments to recognise the city’s high growth and contribution to the local and national economies. It is high time they stopped playing catch-up.