The cost for providing water supply infrastructure to new developments or subdivisions will be decreased in the 2016-17 Western Australian state budget.
WA Water Minister Mia Davies announced the rate of standard infrastructure contributions charged to developers for new water supply infrastructure would be reduce by 47 per cent from July 1, 2016.
“These are what are commonly known in the building industry as headwork charges and they will be reduced from $4064 to $2150 per lot,” Ms Davies said.
“This reduction reflects the decrease in the costs incurred by the Water Corporation to provide water supply infrastructure.
“The corporation has been working closely with the development industry and this is a great outcome for new housing subdivisions across Western Australia.”
Standard infrastructure contributions are one-off charges paid by developers when subdividing or creating new lots or buildings with a service demand greater than a single residence.
Ms Davies also announced a long-standing anomaly would also be revised, meaning rural residential subdivisions would attract the standard infrastructure contribution charge, instead of full cost recovery.
“This is great news for regional WA because it removes red tape and a potential impediment to the expansion and growth in regional towns as it becomes more attractive to develop rural residential subdivisions,” Ms Davies said.
Ms Davies said the costs for regional subdivisions varied significantly from town to town and could be as much as $20,000 per lot in some areas.
The change could encourage more local governments and landowners to subdivide, producing a greater variety of lot sizes in regional areas.
