Questions have been raised about a waste treatment biofuel business offering to buy out Altona landowners on the troubled Burns Road industrial estate.
The 44-hectare estate, which was subdivided in 1929, has more than 500 lots of ‘dead land’ with an average size of 640 square metres.
Originally zoned residential, the estate was deemed too close to petrochemical industries and was subsequently rezoned for industrial development.
The council has met with about a third of its 170 landholders to try to reach agreement on a way forward.
Stuart Anderson, the owner of Surrey Hills waste company GreenToGoFuel (GTGF), has written to landowners offering a 30 per cent deposit for their property, with the balance in two years.
“GTGF has lodged a proposal with Wyndham council to lease 10 hectares of their landfill area in order to build a waste treatment plant … to produce commercial quantities of biofuels,” states the letter, seen by Star Weekly.
“We will need a fuel storage area to support our production schedules and feel that Burns Road would be a suitable site. GTGF would then be able to use our other sites at 442-540 Dohertys Road, Truganina, and 200 Heales Road, Lara, as maintenance and transport depots.”
Star Weekly quizzed Mr Anderson about the addresses given for his two depots after finding they belonged to other businesses and individuals. The business at 200 Heales Road, Lara, was owned by Fulton Hogan. When asked about this, Mr Anderson said he was “under agreement with Geelong council … [which is] in control of the whole thing”.
Mr Anderson stated in his letter to Altona landholders that, by 2020, GTGF would be the only company in Australia capable of supplying certified biofuels to comply with federal government directives. It stated the company wants to supply fuel for Linfox’s 5500 vehicles and aircraft at Avalon airport.
“To make all this happen [financially] we have approached Westpac and Clean Energy Finance Corporation to fund part of our
$1 billion build and production budget,” he stated, admitting this was still in the conceptual stage.
One owner said she was sceptical about GTGF’s offer to buy her land, but Mr Anderson dismissed fears that landholders were risking their money and said he was not asking for land titles when he paid them 30 per cent deposit.
“They’re the most unsophisticated group I’ve ever met, most of the owners,” he said.
Hobsons Bay council’s planning scheme states lots under two hectares on the Burns Road estate cannot be developed. The estate also contains areas of grassland and spiny rice flower, protected by law.
