City of Wanneroo could send delegates to Japan and Singapore to discuss development in Yanchep and Two Rocks

THE City of Wanneroo could send delegates to Japan and Singapore in July to discuss development in Yanchep and Two Rocks.

This week’s council briefing agenda includes a report proposing the City sends a delegation to meet the Yanchep Beach Joint Venture (YBJV) board and the Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The recommended delegation for the three-day trip includes Mayor Tracey Roberts, chief executive Daniel Simms, Deputy Mayor Dianne Guise and planning and sustainability director Mark Dickson, and it is expected to cost $4000-$8000 per person.

“It is proposed that the City’s delegation travel to Japan and Singapore in July 2017, however confirmation will be received from YBJV in due course in relation to the specific dates,” the May 2 report said.

“(It would) visit key development sites in both Japan and Singapore that are examples of similar developments in the context of the development proposed for Yanchep and Two Rocks.”

The report said the meeting would involve initiating a review of a 1999 strategic cooperation agreement and negotiations to update the 2003 memorandum of understanding between the developers, City and State Government.

The draft itinerary for day one includes meeting the board, which includes members of the Tokyu Corporation, in Tokyo and visiting the Shibuya Hikarie activity centre and Futako Tamagawa Project shopping centre.

“Shibuya Hikarie is located approximately 11km from Tokyo CBD and is serviced by a heavy rail line,” the report said.

“The Shibuya Hikarie provides a retail, commercial residential and cultural hub for the area similar to the role Yanchep will provide in the north west corridor.

“Whilst visiting Shibuya Hikarie, there is an opportunity for the City’s delegation to visit the Australia Embassy Marketing Office of the Federal Government Trade and Investment Agency, which is located nearby.

“The purpose of the meeting would be to identify tangible investment opportunities for the Yanchep Two Rocks area.”

The second day would include a visit to Tama Garden City and round up meeting on the Yanchep Two Rocks project implementation model.

“Tokyo’s Tama area is the largest and widely viewed as the most successful land development ever undertaken by a private railway company in Japan,” the report said.

“From 1960-1984, the Tokyu Corporation used a 22km rail line to transform a vast, hilly, and scarcely inhabited area into a planned community of 5000ha and nearly half a million residents.

“Tama Garden City is an amalgam of interconnected new towns that stretches along a 15-35km band southwest of Tokyo that traverses four cities.”

The report said that development provided a similar context to the development of Yanchep and Two Rocks, which is expected to exceed 220,000 residents and have a strategic metropolitan centre, a secondary centre and four new district centres.

It said the delegation would spend the third day in Singapore meeting a senior representative of the URA to discuss their approach to master planning and development of strategic activity centres, including Marina Bay.

Elected members are due to consider the recommendation at their May 9 council meeting.

Continued nurturing of Asian investment in Australia important

LAST month a panel discussion at the Urban Development Institute of Australia’s National Congress centred on the importance of Asian investment in the real estate market.

The panel included Nigel Satterley of Satterley Property Group, John Poynton of Jindalee Partners and Winnie Lai Hadid from HopGood Ganim Lawyers, who discussed the importance of continuing to nurture Asian investment in Australia’s real estate market.

“Asia has grown exponentially as a source of investment capital into Australian property in the last few years,” UDIA WA chief executive Allison Hailes said.

“We are seeing significant capital flowing from regions where previously there was little or no investment into the Australian real estate market, including China where capital invested in the sector has risen by 320 times since 2001.

“While Asian investment is not such a new phenomenon on the eastern states, it is a growing source of funds in WA.

“Given current economic conditions in WA it is important that we maximise the opportunity that this type of investment in our state offers.”