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Housing business case overhaul in NSW

 

An overhaul of how major infrastructure proposals are assessed will help to speed up decision-making in the middle of a housing crisis in NSW.


A new framework governing the business case system will cut red tape, save money and get potential projects out of a clogged system and built faster.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey has announced new rules which include:

  • Developing a fast track for significant proposals in the fields of housing, health and energy infrastructure.
  • Relaxing the criteria for when a business case is required, including:
    • Increasing the threshold for a business case on recurrent proposals from $10 million to $20m.
    • Allowing lower-risk, lower-cost proposals (Tier 3 and 4) to have a lean business case or short-form assessment.
  • Sharpening the purpose and content required in business cases.
  • Supporting more work in-house to reduce overreliance on consultants.

These changes, if enacted five years ago, would have avoided the requirement to prepare more than 1200 business cases.

The changes will return business cases to their primary purpose, which is to set out the evidence needed to inform government investment decisions.

For major projects, expensive and time-consuming work including detailed procurement plans, management plans and technical investigations will now be conducted following government approval for projects to proceed to this stage – instead of before, which could be a waste of money if the project is not approved.

“These reforms will see us continue to rely on thorough business cases for government decision making. But they’ll be adjusted to ensure that we make the cases that need to be made,” he said.

“Overall, these new rules should improve the efficiency, quality and cost of our decision making and ensure NSW builds the future people need.”

 

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