For over a decade, the Giralang shops saga has frustrated and angered the local community who have been pleading for a supermarket to be developed in the suburb.
The former Giralang IGA supermarket closed in February 2005, while the local Vietnamese restaurant held on for some time after the supermarket closed, finally shutting their doors around 2006-2007, said the spokesperson for the Giralang Residents Action Group (GRAG), Ross Calvert.
The Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services this week released findings from an inquiry into the development that outlines 13 urgent recommendations for the ACT Government.
GRAG, which has been fighting for the new development since 2005, said they welcome the Committee’s report but don’t agree with all the recommendations.
Developer of the site, Nikias Diamond, are committed to completing the project and are still vying for a supermarket chain to sign onto the development.
Mr Calvert said the Committee’s invitation for the developer to surrender the lease is “absolute nonsense”.
“He’s already invested four or five million dollars and for him to walk away from that when he’s committed would potentially add years to the development. Anyone taking over would have to go through all the hoops he’s gone through for 15 years and build up relationships with the tenants – it’s absolute nonsense,” Mr Calvert said.
“I feel, along with a lot of other people, that it’s been seen by some parties in the government that the inquiry is a way of deflecting blame away from them and onto the developer, and some of the recommendations in the report are evidence of this belief.”
One of the main recommendations is for a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to be created if Nikias Diamond doesn’t surrender the lease, in order for the ACT Government and the developer to work together to establish a publicly displayed and viable solution.
Mr Calvert said he’s sure Nikias Diamond won’t relinquish the lease, so the MoU would at least provide more transparency in the situation for the general public, who haven’t been party to the situation going on behind the scenes.
“The idea of developing a Memorandum of Understanding to make the situation more transparent is a good recommendation in my opinion. If it hadn’t been for the government, we’d have had shops built there years ago,” Mr Calvert said.
“I have mixed feelings overall with this report because I don’t think it gives proper emphasis of the legal process. We just want the government to work cooperatively with the developer so we can get some shops built.”
Earlier in the year, the community lodged a petition with the ACT Legislative Assembly into why the development of the shops is taking over a decade, which then led to the Committee’s inquiry report released this month.
A major impetus behind the petition was the ACT Government’s decision to limit the size of the supermarket to 1000sqm, which was increased to 1500sqm in May. This change gives the residents more hope there will be potential interest from leading chains, Mr Calvert said.
To read the full list of recommendations, visit www.parliament.act.gov.au
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