By Staff Writer

The Federal Minister for Housing Tanya Plibersek has announced that South Australia has become one of the first states to sign an agreement with the Commonwealth for assistance in reducing processing times of subdivision applications.

The SA Local Government Association (LGA) and State Government will receive $1.79 million to fund the roll out of an electronic development application (eDA) program.

Ms Plibersek said the eDA program was a collaborative response from all three spheres of government to industry concerns about the impact of application processes on development holding costs and housing affordability.

“Speeding up the development approval processes is important because it means that new housing gets to market quicker – this will lower costs for builders and developers and, in turn, help home buyers,” Ms Plibersek said.

LGA Acting President Kym McHugh said Federal Government funding would simplify development approval processes between state and local government.

“This funding will accelerate development to the point where an application could be lodged and tracked online, referred to SA Water and other agencies for their part in the process and then finalised by the council, all electronically,” Cr McHugh said.

The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2009.

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