MERCURY CAMPAIGN - Main Event
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The potential to develop a major new asset in Wollongong might be right in front of our eyes – in the form of a project rejected by the state government.
The project involves revamping WIN Entertainment Centre into a fully fledged convention centre – catering to mid-level conventions of between 800 and 1500 people.
The property owner, Venues NSW, says such a convention centre would bring $12 million in economic benefits each year, as well as provide up to 280 ongoing jobs.
Venues NSW asked for $28million for the convention project when the government was looking to distribute $100million from the lease of Port Kembla.
Included in the application was a $5 million contribution to Wollongong City Council for the cost of a proposed multi-level car park in Stewart Street – a facility with the potential to ease the parking nightmare when major events are on at the WEC and WIN Stadium.
But Infrastructure NSW, the body responsible for deciding which projects will go ahead, did not even think the convention centre was worthy of making its shortlist.
While it was ‘‘a valuable project’’, it ‘‘did not meet the criteria for the Restart NSW Illawarra Infrastructure Fund’’.
Venues NSW is the body set up by the O’Farrell government in March 2012 to manage government-owned sporting and entertainment venues in the Hunter, Western Sydney and Illawarra regions.
The application was no rag-tag amateur bid. It was put together by people with experience dealing with high levels of government, backed by legitimate market research, and supported by Wollongong City Council.
It was rejected despite the key criteria for the Restart fund being projects that ‘‘open new economic opportunities and drive economic growth, making the Illawarra a better place to work, live and do business’’.
The Mercury was told by Infrastructure NSW that projects must improve economic growth or productivity in one of several sectors. These are public transport, roads, hospitals and health infrastructure, workplaces for front-line services such as teachers and nurses and ‘‘infrastructure required for the economic competitiveness of the region’’.
Market research backing the convention centre project said Wollongong’s transformation from a mostly industrial city would be beneficial when developing a tourist economy.
‘‘The stigma of Wollongong being an industrial-based township is subsiding and being replaced by a tourist-friendly destination due in part to the recognition of the health and education sectors and improvements to the CBD,’’ the research, by consultants MacroPlan, said.
‘‘This is a particularly important issue as local event organisers and delegate representatives of international conferences need to recommend and endorse destination decisions.’’
