By NATALIE KOTSIOS
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GREATER Dandenong Council has earmarked $38.3 million for construction of its new municipal buildings and library in its proposed 2012-13 budget.
Of that, $5.2 million will come from the council directly and the remaining $33.1 million will come from loans.
Corporate services director Mick Jaensch said the council intended to borrow $47 million for the $62 million project, to be paid back over the next 25 years. The council is hoping for an overall interest rate of about 7.5 per cent.
The council’s chief executive officer John Bennie said funding for the project assumed that the triangle car park site at the corner of Clow and Lonsdale streets would be sold for about $7 million. But he said this land would not be sold unless an appropriate development could be guaranteed for the site.
Earlier this month, the Weekly reported claims by Cr Peter Brown that asset sales in Dandenong, including the sale of the car park, current council buildings and library, could be used to help fund the project.
The council said asset sales were an option but that sites had not yet been considered.
Cr Brown told the Weekly last week the council had “a list of potential sites that does include that office building”. “It’s not rocket science – if you’re building a new building, what are you going to do with the old one?”
He said that after 2014 there would have to be further asset sales. “In the next two years, the budget will be very tight in terms of capital works across Dandenong. The wish list will have to be reduced, the funding capability won’t be there because of the municipal building constraints.”
The municipal buildings project will go out to tender in the next fortnight, with works scheduled to begin in October.
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