A $17 MILLION fund aimed at luring new investment to the city is now open, with cash on offer to developers to help meet the huge costs of remediating old mine workings under the centre of Newcastle.
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Planning Minister Rob Stokes will announce on Thursday that applications can now be made to the mine subsidence fund, and that further investigations have been commissioned into the old workings to provide more data about them and to improve mapping.
Mr Stokes said the fund, an election commitment, would "help grow the city, creating new homes and jobs".
Essentially, large amounts of cement must be poured into the groutings before a city block can be developed. The costs are often unpredictable and lead to budget blowouts, and can cause major difficulties for developers in securing financing for projects in Newcastle.
The government's new law courts building at Civic was one such victim, with grouting costing more than $2.5 million. Under the scheme, the fund would underwrite any grouting costs for a development that exceed a capped amount.
The value of the cap is based on a rate per square metre for certain "category areas" of the city, based on mapping of the city previously released by the Mine Subsidence Board.
Applications can be made for projects with development approval and a mine remediation strategy that has been approved by the board.
Approval for the fund would remain in place for as long as a project's Mine Subsidence Board approval.
But the fund would not pay for investigations, exploratory drilling or consultancy fees.
The rates for each area will be released on Thursday.