Parramatta. Links to South Asia

The inaugural Australian Festival of South Asian Arts, a major new event in Parramatta, to be known as Parramasala, will include business activities linking Parramatta and South Asia. Parramatta City Council will be involved in a committee, which is formulating plans for the festival to be held in the city from November 4-10. The festival is a joint initiative between Events NSW, council and the state government. With a budget of $6 million over three years, Parramasala will initially focus on India in 2010, expanding into a two-week program, in 2011, reflecting the cultures of the South Asian region – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Parramatta. Dramatic unemployment rate

Unemployment rates in Parramatta are three times higher in one section of the city than another, according to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations’ Small Area Labour Markets report for the December 2009 quarter. The report shows the following unemployment rate in four sections of the Parramatta LGA: North-West, 4.2 per cent (compared to 2.7 per cent December 2008); North-East, 4.4 per cent (2.9 per cent); Inner, 6.3 per cent (4.5 per cent); South, 13.3 per cent (9.8 per cent). In the region, Blacktown-South-West, recorded the highest unemployment rate of 14.2 per cent (13.0 per cent), followed by Fairfield-East, 13.7 per cent (10.4 per cent) and Bankstown-North-East, 11.5 per cent (9.0 per cent). The rate for the Sydney SLA was 6.1 per cent (4.5 per cent).

Auburn. An emerging location for business

The NSW Government’s approval of the concept plan for US discount retail giant Costco’s $58 million warehouse and national headquarters cements Auburn as an important emerging location for business, said Premier Kristine Keneally. “It is part of the Auburn Council’s strategic vision to revitalise this area as a large format retail precinct and will help council as it finalises its local environment plan,” she said. The project includes a three-storey development, more than 13,700 square metres of gross floor area (GFA) for a retail warehouse, nearly 2000 square metres of commercial office GFA for the headquarters and 745 car parking spaces. The project has the potential to support 130 jobs during construction and around 230 on-going jobs. The store will be open 12 hours a day and is expected to make $90 million in sales in the first year. UNSW associate professor, Professor Frank Zumbo said in the Daily Telegraph that Costco "would suck customers into Auburn, away from other shopping centres".

Campbelltown. Opposition to 'Texas oilfield'

AGL wants to expand its Camden gas project by building 12 gas extraction wells to collect coal-seam methane, five of which will be in the Campbelltown local government area. The wells will feed gas via underground pipes to an extraction plant located in the hills on the border of the two municipalities. The plant will include a compressor and a device to allow flaring of excess gas and a large evaporation pond. AGL said the plant's proposed site was ideal because of existing infrastructure While the Campbelltown City Council unanimously opposes the plan, it is being considered by the NSW Department of Planning as a project of state significance, which means the council's opposition can be ignored. ''My concern is that I don't want my Scenic Hills turning into a Texas oilfield,'' the Labor mayor, Aaron Rule, said.

Parramatta. DA for 220 residential units

Parramatta City Council has under preliminary assessment an application, lodged by Jamaj Investments Pty Limited and Sonenco Group Pty Limited, for the demolition and construction of a mixed use development containing 220 residential units and commercial floor space, at CDS House, in Cowper Street, Parramatta. The estimated cost of development is $35.7 million.