By Bonny Burrows
International investors want to build a multi-billion dollar airport at Kooweerup, despite a lack of local funding.
While the State Government has ruled out purchasing land for the local development, a project to build an airport is being pushed in the United Arab Emirates.
Melbourne-based businessman Alande Mustafi Safi was last week in Dubai talking with interested parties who had said they wanted to own an airport in Melbourne’s south-east.
Gerard Kennedy, a director of Mr Safi’s Paragon Business Group, said while investment was not a given, the overseas businessmen had the capacity to bring the project to fruition.
“These people can certainly afford to do it, they want to do it and they approached us,” Mr Kennedy, who is also Special Counsel at Dandenong law firm McPherson Kelley, said.
“Early planning works” for a third Melbourne airport were featured in the State Government’s 2013 population growth blueprint Plan Melbourne, in the event one was needed in the future.
A spokesperson for Planning Minister Richard Wynne told The Gazette last week that demand for the project was not yet there, however “we need to plan ahead for aviation to avoid being blind-sided as Victoria grows”.
The Gazette understands a Kooweerup airport would service up to 5.1 million domestic passenger movements annually and create more than 3000 ongoing jobs on completion, comparable to Melbourne Airport.
It is also understood the Victorian Government has eyed an airport for Melbourne’s south-east since 2002, but development would only occur through private investment.
Mr Kennedy argued that the market for a third Melbourne airport was already there thanks to the area’s high immigrant rate and international demand for fresh produce.
And with the project’s multi-level government support, Mr Kennedy said he was confident that initial investment will eventually come, particularly in light of last week’s media reports.
“The Victorian Government has been talking about how badly they want the airport, how the area wants the airport, and that all it wanted was the funding,” Mr Kennedy said.
“So, it was really timely for us to show the people in Dubai that the opportunity is very real – that there is an opportunity here and an opportunity for someone to come and fund it.”
Locally, Mr Kennedy said neighbouring shires would benefit from an airport in a number of ways including a boost in tourism and infrastructure.
“The fact is if you build an airport the passengers and the freight will follow, as too will the supporting infrastructure such as accommodation,” he said.
“It’s really important for the whole of our region; every municipality will benefit with a general uplift of economic activity.
“This is a big exercise which is going to put a substantial amount of money in people’s pockets.”
Mr Kennedy said that financial investment may not be around the corner but that it was something Mr Safi would keep pushing for.
“Someone will fund it if the Middle East doesn’t – it’s not a new idea,” Mr Kennedy said.
