The Queensland Government has released details about its planned office that will be responsible for streamlining  medium to large-scale development projects.

 

Deputy Premier and Minister for Local Government Paul Lucas said the Major Projects Office (MPO) would boost confidence in the local construction industry by ensuring the smooth and timely delivery of large-scale developments such as shopping centres and office blocks.

 

“One of the more important reforms the industry called out for was the development of a coordination body to help projects that fall short of Coordinator-General or Urban Land Development Authority coordination get through some of the bigger hurdles thrown up during the planning process.

“The government responded with a commitment to investigate the establishment of a Major Projects Office to be a one-stop shop for these projects,” Mr Lucas said.

 

Mr Lucas stressed that the MPO would not be an approval agency, and it will not have powers to override council or state agencies, but will be  a single point of contact for individual case managers allocated to projects.

 

The State Government allocated $1.8 million in this year’s budget to establish the office within the Department of Local Government and Planning’s Growth Management Queensland. It will deal with major projects that do not qualify for oversight by the Co-ordinator General, or residential projects which are facilitated by the Urban Land Development Authority.