Attracting capital to the capital

Attracting capital to the capitalJust like an old master, Walter Burley Griffin drew the lines of the national capital on a blank canvas. Today, we are colouring in between the lines, adding depth and complexity.So said Dorte Ekelund, Director-General of the ACT Government’s Environment and Planning Directorate, at a Property Council breakfast held on Tuesday 18 November.Three ACT Government leaders, responsible for bringing together infrastructure, planning policy and lighthouse projects, inspired the audience with their visions for Canberra.One of these lighthouse projects is the Capital Metro, which Capital Metro Agency’s Director-General, Emma Thomas, hailed as one of the largest infrastructure projects in Australia at the moment.”The $600 million project – with Stage One linking the city to Gungahlin and Dickson Town Centre – has the potential to create jobs, attract investment and provide economic uplift across the capital.”Capital Metro will open doors to industry sectors that have never considered Canberra before,” Emma says.The project can help Canberra become a more liveable, efficient and sustainable city, but “it’s just one building block in the ‘grand vision’ for the nation’s capital,” Emma added.Kathy Leigh agrees. As the Head of Service and Director-General within the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate, Kathy is leading a transformational change agenda in a tough economic environment. Pointing to a recent visit from the Mayor of Beijing, Kathy outlined opportunities for our city from high-end environmental tourism to attracting more university students. “The mayor of Beijing was captivated by Canberra – and was going home to tell people to visit, study or invest here,” she said.For Dorte Ekelund, Director-General of the Environment and Planning Directorate, our greatest challenge is what she calls the ‘temporal context’. “People want to see things happen yesterday,” she says. “But planning takes time – and my portfolio is about securing the future prosperity of our community and our environment.”We must ask ourselves: what challenges will our urban systems face in 20 or years’ time? As custodians of our city and of the environment, how will we build a capital that is resilient as well as liveable?”The secret is to invest in projects that build capacity for the future – and cater to the needs of a city that we can barely picture. The optimism in the room was palpable. “We’re the knowledge capital of Australia, and knowledge societies are the way of the future,” Dorte said. Our challenge is to use those smarts to create a city that is a magnet for both talent and capital so that we are able to ‘colour in’ a few more of shapes outlined by Mr Griffin.Catherine Carter is ACT Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia