source : the age
Greenline, the ambitious $316 million linear park proposed for the north bank of the Yarra River, will not be completed by the City of Melbourne, which is pulling funding from the troubled project.
Nick Reece will announce he is no longer funding the project in his first budget as lord mayor on Tuesday night, as the City of Melbourne faces financial pressures to deliver on costly election promises, such as a rate freeze, while also grappling with climbing debt.
An artist’s impression of a section of the Greenline works along the Yarra River. The project has struggled for funding since it was first announced.
Greenline was the signature project of Reece’s predecessor, Sally Capp, who stood down last year. The plan for a four-kilometre elevated pathway modelled on New York’s High Line has long struggled to attract enough state and federal funding to cover its price tag of $316 million.
While the full path from Birrarung Marr to Bolte Bridge is now not funded, some sections of Greenline are going ahead as funding was already allocated.
The first stage, which includes 450 metres of boardwalks and native plants on the banks of the Yarra at Birrarung Marr, is due to open this year at a cost of $30 million.
Two other sections, Seafarers Rest Park and Saltwater Wharf Precinct, are being built in partnership with private developers Riverlee and Lendlease, respectively, under a City of Melbourne funding plan released when Capp was lord mayor.
The Greenline project was a signature policy of Sally Capp, pictured in 2022 when she was lord mayor.Credit: Jason South
Tuesday’s draft budget will redirect $14.6 million allocated to Greenline into paying for other projects, including a new community hub in North Melbourne and a library in Southbank.
The decision to scrap funding means Greenline’s future is highly uncertain. When pressed about the project, Reece said that it wasn’t dead, although it would not be delivered in the current council’s four-year-term.
“Budgets are about making decisions, and I’m very comfortable with the choice we have made here,” he said.
“I think it is actually a good reflection of the priorities of the new council.”
Lord Mayor Nick Reece will hand down his first council budget on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
The draft budget includes a proposed $154 million capital works program, with $5.3 million in funding for a new library at Southbank and $40 million over four years to redevelop the North Melbourne Community Centre.
Reece said that delivering improved new facilities in those areas of the city were more pressing priorities than funding the Greenline project.
An artist’s impression of the Greenline Project.Credit: City of Melbourne
The most recent City Of Melbourne budget allocated $29.4 million to Greenline in 2024-25, however not all of that money was spent due to delays on the project’s first stage at Birrarung Marr.
The council’s 2025-26 budget will reduce the forecast spend on the overall project by $14.6 million over the next two years.
Redirecting that money was “absolutely the right thing to do” in the current circumstances, Reece said.
“When I became lord mayor, I said I wanted Melbourne to be the best and fairest city in the world,” he said. “And I think it is only fair that people living in North Melbourne and Macaulay and those living in Southbank get access to quality community facilities, world-class libraries, like other people in Melbourne often take for granted.”
Since his election in October, Reece has faced pressure from hostile councillors to improve the state of the council budget, while also seeking to deliver on expensive promises made during the campaign.
Those promises included a one-year rate freeze, $2 entry to public pools, 50,000 free swimming lessons and more than $20 million to build a Little India precinct and revitalise Chinatown.
Reece’s plans have already hit a snag, however, after councillors voted to provide only 3000 free swimming lessons and limit $2 pool entry to weekdays only for three months at two pools.
With four out of the 11 councillors elected on Reece’s ticket, the lord mayor needs to gain support from at least two other councillors to implement his agenda and pass the budget.
Councillors outside the Reece camp, including Owen Guest and Philip Le Liu, have raised concerns about continuing to fund Greenline while also paying for other capital works projects, such as the renewal of the Queen Victoria Market.
There are also concerns over the council’s debt, which is forecast to hit $216 million this year and peak at $275 million in 2026.
The Greenline section along Birrarung Marr will be finished, but the broader project is on ice.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
Greens councillor Olivia Ball has called for Reece to scrap the rate freeze. Reece did not comment when asked if the rate freeze was in the budget.
Last year, the City of Melbourne forecast a wafer-thin surplus of $100,000 for 2024-25. Reece also declined to elaborate on the council’s financial position ahead of the release of the draft budget.
“I certainly intend to ensure that we maintain a strong budget position at Town Hall over this council term,” he said.
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