Opposition to the Barangaroo Lend Lease proposal

Reading the newsletter of the Barangaroo Action Group, I found a number of excellent arguments against the proposal, including this one:

1 - A single developer undertaking the whole development results in lack of competition and places in the hands of one corporate entity the timeframes for the construction, which will be dictated by that one entity’s commercial interests. As such, residents and city workers will be living in a construction site for up to 15 to 20 years, while an unacceptable high density development spreads over the whole site, much as Lend Lease’s Jacksons Landing project has done.

The same argument could be used against the proposed commercial upgrade of the M2. If Transurban is allowed to manage this $550M project, what guarantees will the NSW government have, and what penalties will be available, to enforce timescales and standards?

Regarding the proposed huge hotel in Barangaroo, Lend Lease promise that it will remain a hotel, but such promises are seldom kept - like the divided carriageway of the M2 over Clilworth Reserve, which Transurban now intends to fill in as part of the widening project. A number of news articles have implied that Lend Lease anticipates the hotel failing when they will seek approval to convert the building into prime appartments, making another obscene profit.