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The Minns government has abandoned plans for a complete rebuild of Penrith Stadium after discovering the cost of the project was likely to be more than triple what was originally promised under the Coalition.
The government will still spend $309 million on refurbishing the Penrith Panthers’ home ground, but a whole-sale rebuild on a neighbouring site has been abandoned.
A controversial rebuild of Penrith Stadium will be scaled down to only a partial redevelopment after costs for project were set to be three-times the initial estimate.Credit: James Brickwood
Instead, the Herald has confirmed, the government is likely to commit to a partial redevelopment of the existing site after a review found the project promised by the then Coalition government would likely cost more than $900 million.
The Coalition had promised to spend $309 million building a new stadium, nominating the neighbouring Penrith Paceway occupied by the local harness racing club as a future site.
Former NSW Sports Minister and Penrith MP Stuart Ayres had been central in pursuing a compulsory acquisition of the Penrith paceway site, while the Coalition had promised to turn the site of the existing ground into a public park.
Despite ditching plans to develop grounds including Leichardt Oval, Brookvale and Shark Park, the Coalition had remained committed to a rebuild of the Penrith site and issued an acquisition order to the paceway’s operators in July last year.
However, despite Infrastructure NSW’s website saying it is continuing to “explore and assess an alternate site for the new stadium”, the Herald has confirmed those plans have now been shelved.
Last month Infrastructure NSW wrote to Penrith Paceway to confirm that a controversial compulsory acquisition of the site had been taken off the table, with a spokesman for the agency confirming that “no further commercial negotiations to acquire the site are going ahead”.
The cost of the project had spiralled from the original $309 million because of the impact of increases in inflation on construction costs. In April, the government commissioned former Roads and Maritime Services boss Ken Kanofski to conduct a review of NSW’s $115 billion infrastructure pipeline.
Sports Minister Steve Kamper said that early estimates on the cost of the project had indicated that buying the Paceway Site and building a new stadium had been set to cost more than $900 million dollars.
“The former Government’s plan to shift the stadium to the paceway site, would’ve tripled the cost,” he said.
“The Minns Government committed to reviewing major infrastructure projects to ensure they would
not go massively over budget. We will continue to work with government agencies and local stakeholders to finalise the design and delivery of the project.”
The Panthers declined to comment, however sources at the club not permitted to speak publicly said the funding envelope would probably allow for a knockdown renovation of the ground’s main stand and improved facilities. However, negotiations over the redevelopment were still in their infancy.
The plan to build a new Penrith Stadium was at the centre of the suburban stadiums war between former NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and NRL boss Peter V’landys.
The dispute was sparked after V’landys accused Perrottet of reneging on a handshake deal to develop the other suburban grounds.
While the Penrith redevelopment survived, it was not universally popular thanks to its cost and the impact on the paceway. It’s chief executive, Tash Greentree, declined to comment.
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