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Sydney Town Square on Fast-track to Realization
Sydney, June 23, 2009 – The city of Sydney’s long-awaited town square may soon come to fruition. The Rees Government is pushing ahead with the CBD Metro project and is planning to purchase the buildings opposite Town Hall.
The Sydney’s town square is part of the ambitious 2030 strategic plan. It will stand in the site of the Woolworths building and will have an underground metro station. Premier Nathan Rees has revealed that the Government intends to purchase the buildings bounded by Pitt, Park and George streets. Once negotiations are complete, these will be scheduled for demolition to make way for the town square.
The CBD Metro project is estimated to cost between $4.8 billion and $5.3 billion. The new town square will create a historic precinct facing the Town Hall and the Queen Victoria Building.
“As commuters and tourists exit from the underground metro they will emerge into a green open space with some of our most iconic buildings front and centre,” said Rees.
According to Transport Minister David Campbell, construction of the new station is slated to begin next year. “Geotechnical surveys resulted in the alignment of the Town Hall square metro station needing to be shifted slightly south,” he said.
“Moving the station in this way means that the corner of Park and George Streets has become the perfect site for station construction. As a result of the changes, the heritage buildings in Pitt Street including the former meeting place of the Australasian Federation League are no longer required.”
Budget was allocated for the project last week amounting to $581 million. The money will be spent on the “finalisation of the detailed environmental assessment and the design of civil, architectural and engineering works”.
Source:
smh.com.au
