Proposed East West Link Devastates Residents
By Peter Sarmas on 17 Jul 2013
No Comments yet, your thoughts are very welcome
Residents supporting trains instead of toll roads
Source: YCAT
Residents of Melbourne’s inner north have expressed their anger over the Victorian government’s plans to bulldoze homes to make way for East West Link.
The State Government has announced this week that 100 homes around Hoddle Street and Alexandra Parade are likely to be bulldozed for the construction of the new tollway, and a further 258 Collingwood properties are also likely to be affected.
According to Premier Denis Napthine, the amount of compensation homeowners could receive would be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. While he claims that he is “confident that we can deal with each and every affected household in a compassionate, caring and appropriate way, that gives a positive outcome,” many devastated homeowners aren’t so sure.
Yesterday residents likely to be affected by the project received letters from the State Government’s Linking Melbourne Authority, explaining the proposed plans and that their property may be compulsorily acquired in order to proceed with the $6 billion to $8 billion road tunnel that is set to link the Eastern Freeway to the northern and western suburbs.
One of these residents, Elyssa Mansour, who has owned her Collingwood home for five years, told ABC that she and her husband John “were looking to sell before the budget was released and I [knew] the value I had in my head, and whether we’ll get close to that, we’ll have to see. This market is really strong at the moment, the inner north is really booming, so who knows what will be taken into account and whether we’ll get a fair value.”
Labor spokesperson Tim Pallas believes the community is right to be angry about the way the government has handled the matter. “Today I think we’ve seen how the government should not go about dealing with the acquisition of property for projects. Today I think we’ve seen this community treated in a tawdry fashion while this government only continues to provide dotted lines on a map. If you want a clear illustration of how insensitive, how unfairly, how uncaring this government is, it starts here today,” he said.
