PROPERTY developer Port Bouvard has been granted a licence to supply water and treat sewage on its landmark Point Grey development on the banks of the Peel Inlet.
The water services operating licence granted to Peel Water Pty Ltd not only significantly reduces the capital cost of the 3,000-lot development, which Port Bouvard wants to start selling later this year, it also provides the potential for a new business enterprise for the developer, which has been fighting to retire debt and refocus on land development after being caught out by the GFC.
The Peel Water win, though, is not the first in what essentially is a metropolitan development, albeit on the fringe of suburbia’s expansion into the Shire of Murray south of Mandurah.
Last year, the Economic Regulation Authority granted a similar 25-year licence to Moama Lifestyle Villages Pty Ltd to provide non-potable water supply and sewerage services to the TuartLakesLifestyleVillage located on Mandurah Road, North Baldivis.
The Peel Water licence goes one step further by allowing Port Bouvard to supply its development with drinking water without the big cost of head works required by state agency Water Corp to pipe water in and sewage out from the relatively isolated site.
Instead, it is understood that Port Bouvard will use reverse osmosis technology to treat bore water taken from a nearby aquifer, treat waste on site and recycle it for garden irrigation.
While it is not known what Water Corp would charge for such a service, it is believed the Peel Water solution is considerably cheaper. It also creates a utility that Port Bouvard may retain, rather than the usual scenario where water assets put in by the developer are gifted to the state agency, which then assumes responsibility for maintenance and long-term management.
Documents submitted as part of the licensing process with the ERA show that almost 90 kilometres of pipe will be laid to service the 200-hectare site, with the freshwater conveyance system estimated to cost $5.2 million, or $1,860 per lot, to install and $113,590 per year to maintain.
More than 45km of the pipe network would be for wastewater conveyance, a far more expensive process, costing $13.8 million, or $4,640 per lot, to install and $252,695 per year to maintain.
It is not clear if there were additional infrastructure costs or if this $19 million price tag included bore and waste water treatment equipment.
The water services licence granted to Peel Water is restricted to the Point Grey development site. It is understood that nearby future developments could apply to extend the licence to access that service.
